Program of Liberal Studies; Medieval Institute; Italian Studies

In most Western European languages, conversion is etymologically linked to the Latin word conversio. In Latin, however, conversio is used to translate two rather different, and in certain contexts even incompatible, Greek terms indicating spiritual change: epistrophê and metanoia. At the time of the great Hellenistic revival that marked the fifteenth century, how did the Florentine philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) translate epistrophê when venturing into the first Latin translation of Plotinus's (204/5-270) Enneads? Was Ficino aware of the hermeneutic distance that divides Plotinus's world and Early Modern Christianity? And if so, how did he manage to make Plotinus's thinking on spiritual change acceptable for a Western Christian audience? By looking closely at how Ficino translated Plotinus's language of spiritual transformation, this essay will illustrate the enduring influence of the Florentine philosopher on Early Modern conceptions of conversion, while also contributing to current debates on this problematic concept from a linguistic angle.

The change in worship of polytheistic societies or the change of faith in the monotheistic ones, is a phenomenon studied by specialists of different historical, archaeological, anthropological or historical-religious disciplines, but never seen in a multidisciplinary perspective as a unitary phenomenon. By studying the interactions between people and trying to identify and describe the elements of exchange and knowledge of the Other, Alteritas now wants – with this miscellanea – to deal with a religious phenomenon that involves both people and places, both the modern and the ancient world. Contributions of approaches from archaeology, social sciences, history, anthropology, religious studies of different historical periods demonstrate reflection and various disciplinary approach on the subject.