ABSTRACT

Giordano Bruno proclaimed a new philosophy of religion in his extremely complex dialogue Spaccio de la bestia trionfante. One may condense his message to the following statement: Religion is nothing but a political means for the unlearned people, while the mysteries of the divine remain reserved for the few geniuses, so that any attempt at popularizing such wisdom necessarily verges on fraud. Yet, Bruno still believes in the value of theological speculation, even though he makes it his own and departs from tradition. References and allusions to Cusanus appear throughout Bruno's works in strategically decisive moments, that is, when Bruno is about to reach the goal of his argument. The reference to Cusanus that connects the trinitarian model with geometry and religious policy discloses unexpected potentials in Cusanus's philosophical innovation, namely to keep the coincidence of contraries where it happens, in the realm of earthly life, and to see the variety of religions as a merely secular phenomenon.