Giordano Bruno and the Kabbalah

Abstract

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), a defrocked Dominican monk, was convicted of heresy by the Roman Catholic Inquisition and burned at the stake in Rome. He had spent fifteen years wandering throughout Europe on the run from Counter-Reformation intelligence and eight years in prison under interrogation. The author of more than sixty works on mathematics, science, ethics, philosophy, metaphysics, the art of memory and esoteric mysticism, Bruno had a profound impact on Western thought.Until now his involvement with Jewish mysticism has never been fully explored. Karen Silvia de Leon-Jones presents an engaging and illuminating discussion of his mystical understanding and use of Jewish and Christian Kabbalah, theology, and philosophy, including the famous "Hermetica", and especially his exploration and use of magic to reveal the mysteries of the universe and the divine. Karen de Leon-Jones is a research fellow in religious studies at the Centre d'Etudes des Religions du Livre, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Ecole Pratique des Etudes Scientifiques (Paris) and at the Institut Karma Ling (Arvillard).