Humanists and the Bible: Between Intellectual Renovation and Search of the Original Sources

The study of biblical languages, and especially of Hebrew, became crucial for the intellectual agenda of 15th- and 16th-century Italian humanist scholars, both Christian and Jewish. The original language of the Scripture was held as a fundamental for the correct understanding of the origins of Christianity, though it also reflected a culture that was often identified as hostile; at the same time, the Hebrew Bible became the touchstone for the interpretation of contemporary scientific discoveries. Moving from the analysis of the works and thought of two Renaissance scholars, the Christian Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and the Jewish Abraham ben Mordekhai Farissol, the article discusses some of the many reasons that induced humanists to draw upon biblical Hebrew to adapt any scientific discipline to the Scripture and to ultimately make the Bible the centre of their intellectual quest.