Omodeo, Adolfo

The historical-religious thought of Adolfo Omodeo was initially influenced by Gentile’s actualism, bringing the res gestae back to the historia rerum and outlining the latter as a subjective ‘testimony’ and as an ‘evaluation.’ However, he later distanced himself from Gentile, both for political reasons and for ideological orientation. According to his mature studies on Christian origins, John halted the destructive currents of ancient Gnosticism in the mysticism of love, while Paul overcame the residual legalism in the current experience of messianic salvation, at the beginning of the salvific era. In these studies, emphasis is placed on the generativefunction of myth, which bursts forth with its representative power, anticipating the great transformations of human consciousness. This energy of myth, which showed a clear Vichian ancestry, became increasingly central in Omodeo’s reflection, characterizing his subsequent studies on modern history and, in general, the physiognomy of his historicism.