‘That a profound sensitivity towards spirituality penetrates all Giordano Bruno’s philosophy—as Eugenio Garin puts it in his L’umanesimo italiano—in no way can be denied […]. A religious inspiration goes through and inflames all his writings, although it later leads him even to the blasphemy against the Christian religion.’ As the statement suggests, religion actually reveals to be indispensable for an adequate understanding of Giordano Bruno’s thought and hence for a correct appreciation of attitudes like, on the one hand, his defence of an infinite universe in cosmology or, on the other hand, his anthropological positions and the importance he gave to philosophy by considering it as an ethical and historical mission. Starting from a re-evaluation of Christianity after Luther’s Reform, the event aims to discuss Giordano Bruno’s contribution to the history of modern ideas by focusing in particular on theological, moral, and legalpolitical aspects of his philosophy, and by comparing his views to other significant sixteenth-century writers, who include: his fellow countrymen Alberico Gentili and Tommaso Campanella, the masters of the School of Salamanca, François Hotman, Michel de Montaigne, François Bauduin, Celio Secondo Curione, and Jean Bodin. In continuity with the first 2 editions of the event and the meetings that preceded it, special attention will be paid to Bruno’s last philosophical teaching: his Wittenberg period and the role of the city in the second half of the sixteenth century, the ‘Frankfurt trilogy’, the treatises on magic, and the trial documentation.

Convenors

• Dr Massimiliano Traversino Di Cristo
  FROM Birkbeck College School of Law University of London - UK
  IN RESIDENCE AT Centre d’Etudes Supérieures de la Renaissance (CESR) / CNRS, University of Tours - FR
• Dr Paul-Alexis Mellet,
  Centre d’Etudes Supérieures de la Renaissance (CESR) / CNRS, University of Tours - FR

Location

Centre d’Etudes Supérieures de la Renaissance (CESR) :
59, Rue Néricault Destouches - 37000 TOURS - FR

The conference venue is unique. Located right next to the basilica of St Martin in the old city centre of Tours, the Centre d'Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (Centre for Advanced Studies in the Renaissance) is a teaching and research institution which welcomes students and researchers seeking initial or supplementary instruction in all aspects of the Renaissance. The Centre was initially constituted in 1956 on the basis of a library and a documentary archive, supplemented by a collection of photographs and databases. It is now a venue for multi-disciplinary instruction, which, in association with the various Faculties of the University, has responsibility for teaching and research in History, History of Art, Literature, Languages, Musicology, and Philosophy. It currently leads a large research programme dedicated to the cultural regional heritage (Intelligence des Patrimoines). As a research centre it brings together fifty or so researchers committed to the investigation of the "civilization of the Renaissance" from Petrarch to Descartes. Participants will be welcomed in this exceptional surrounding blending Middle Age and Renaissance cultures and will have the opportunity to discover French cuisine and wines.

PRICING

Including two lunches and coffee breaks

WITTENBERG EVENTS

Festival Bruniano, 3rd Edition Tours & Wittenberg

Download the poster of the Wittenberg colloquium

Download the leaflet of the Wittenberg colloquium