Pietro Pomponazzi’s views on demonic possession and exorcism

DEL OLMO ISMAEL

Budapest

Workshop; Workshop Human dignitiy and exaltation in Medieval and Renaissance magic; 2023

Universidad Reformada Károli Gáspar

The Italian philosopher Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1525) is famous for attempting a naturalistic reinterpretation of phenomena that popular and learned traditions took as miracles, prodigies, saintly intercessions, and angels’ or devils’ works. [D] He claimed that the philosopher’s task was to “render the cause of natural effects” (quod cum philosophi sit caussam naturalium effectuum reddere; De naturalium effectuum causis sive De incantationibus, Basilea: Grataroli, 1556, 317). This resulted in the expansion of the explanatory power of nature at the expense of supernatural and preternatural/demonic interpretations. In this presentation, I show an example of this: a critique of demonology and ecclesiastical power through his opinions on demonic possession and exorcism, phenomena well attested in the Christian tradition through the Bible and the scholastic science.