Giordano Bruno and the Kabbalah: Prophets, Magicians, and Rabbis

viii, 273pp. 8vo, black paper over boards, silver gilt spine lettering. FINE copy--entirely clean and sharp; DJ with just a touch of wear to the tips. Out of print and quite scarce in hardcover. 'In this interpretation of the thought of the heretical philosopher Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), Karen de L.-Jones depicts the influential thinker as mystic and cabbalist. She rejects the popular view of Bruno as hermetic magus - a position initiated by Frances Yates and widely accepted by succeeding scholars. Bruno's interest in mysticism and the Kabbalah was not merely intellectual or satiric, de L.-Jones contends: a close look at his study of the Kabbalah reveals him as a practising believer. For Bruno, the Kabbalah reconciled science with theology and provided a biblical support for theories such as metempsychosis that he wished to prove scientifically through atomic theory and physiognomy. Balancing his mystical Cabala dialogue with the hermetic vein of his dialogue 'Spacio della bestia trionfante' and the Napoleonic emblems of 'Degli eroici furofi', Bruno creates a solid syncretic trilogy, as well as a modern apology for scientific and philosophical debates still of interest today.' (From the DJ).…