“Anyone who declares war on reason, logic, and science will taste defeat. Sooner or later…” (Giordano Bruno)
The work titled “Giordano Bruno’s Worldview and Fate” was published in 1882 by Hermann Brunnhofer in Leipzig.
Bruno, who was known for his heretical ideas, was actually a clergyman with priestly training. It can be said that he was one of the figures who shaped Renaissance thought.
Giordano, who was born in Nola in 1548, was actually named Filippo. Bruno began his religious training at a Dominican monastery and completed it in a very short time thanks to his exceptional memory. During his theological training, he weighed what he read in his mind. For this reason, he also researched topics that did not make sense to him.
As a theologian, his first thesis was that Jesus was not the Son of God and that his holiness could not be based on that. But this idea was very dangerous for the Church.
During his studies at the monastery, he took the name Giordano.
Since he was open to new ideas, he researched tirelessly.
Instead of the conception of the world and the universe in Aristotle’s philosophy, he adopted Copernicus’s worldview. Yet this was very difficult in Europe at the time. The Church and the society shaped by it accepted Aristotle’s conception of the world and the universe.
What did Aristotle say about the world and the universe?
The universe was geocentric, that is, Earth-centered. The Earth is at the center of the universe and is immobile. All celestial bodies revolve around the Earth.
What did Copernicus say in contrast to Aristotle?
It is not the Earth, but the Sun that stands at the center of the universe. The Earth revolves around the Sun, just like the other planets.
Aristotle’s and Copernicus’s conceptions of the world and the universe were almost completely at odds with one another.
When Bruno read Copernicus’s ideas, he concluded that Copernicus was speaking the truer words and turned away from Aristotle’s worldview. This turning away led him to innovation, to science, and to a separation from the Church.
There was another figure who influenced Bruno: Ibn Rushd.
Although Ibn Rushd was a Muslim scholar, he emphasized the importance and influence of philosophy and critical thinking. Therefore, his ideas provided Bruno with important insights.
Although Bruno completed his training as a priest and became a priest, he did not want to say things within the church system that he did not believe in intellectually.
In 1576, despite his priestly office, he was subjected to the Inquisition because of his ideas and statements and was forced to leave Naples.
He left Italy and went to Geneva. While he expected a liberal environment in Geneva, he found that people there were also under the thumb of the Church and religious thinking. Since he had declared that he considered the burning of the circulatory system researcher Dr. Servetus to be wrong, he was even criticized within academic circles. Not only the people, but also the academic circles were far removed from scientific thinking under the influence of the status quo and the Church.
After these experiences in Geneva, he also left that place and went to France. All he wanted was a “free scientific environment.”
In a time and environment where Aristotle’s philosophy prevailed, he had pointed out the inconsistencies in Aristotle’s ideas and introduced Copernicus’s worldview to society.
Later, he went to Lyon and worked there within the university and church circles.
He did not shy away from expressing his thoughts.
He published a 30-point declaration against the ideas of St. Thomas and against the use of religion as an “instrument of oppression.”
Because of his stance against the use of religion and the Church as instruments of oppression, he encountered difficulties wherever he went. It was no different in Lyon, and he decided to go to England.
In England, he wrote treatises on Copernicus’s worldview. It was very important to highlight the inaccuracy of Aristotle’s conceptions of the world and the universe. For Copernicus’s conceptions of the world and the universe were more scientific. For this reason, it was very important for him to defend scientific truths and convey them to people.
Bruno’s innovative ideas and his resistance to the repressive system of the Church led to him being criticized wherever he went. He was forced to leave London as well. He spent a short time in Germany and then settled in Venice in 1591.
In truth, settling in Venice was a kind of resignation for him. Wherever he went, he was criticized for his ideas and statements—in Switzerland, France, England, and Germany.
Wherever he went, he could not escape oppression by the Church.
He had begun to say, “If I must die, then in my own country,” and that was actually why he had settled in Venice.
He was a person who had been excommunicated by the Catholics in Rome, by the Calvinists in Geneva, and by the Lutheran Protestants in Helmstedt. Being excommunicated by the three major denominations did not show that he was in the wrong, but on the contrary, that he was on the right path.
What he said throughout his life had always angered those who gained power in the name of God.
Those who held power in the name of God deceived people in the name of God.
Those who deceived in the name of God actually knew very well what he was saying. But that did not suit them, for deceiving in the name of God brought both money and power.
Just as those who deceived in the name of God and the Church acted back then, so too do those who deceive in connection with Islam behave today.
Deceiving in the name of religion is punished today just as it was in 1590. Perhaps people actually want to be deceived.
Perhaps people love those who deceive them, and especially those who deceive them in the name of religion.
So do people do this out of stupidity?
According to Bruno, yes.
Bruno was sent from Venice to Rome in 1593 to stand trial before the Inquisition.
First, he was tortured.
He was starved and beaten.
He was forced to accept the teachings of the Church.
But Bruno refused.
This torture lasted a full seven years.
For seven years, he was forced to accept the teachings of the Church.
On January 20, 1600, Pope Clement VIII accused Bruno of heresy and ordered his execution.
“Bruno is a heretic. He will be cleansed of his sins by burning.”
On February 17, 1600, he was “burned alive” in Rome on the Campo de’ Fiori .
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Bruno was a very significant theologian and philosopher.
Since I understand his significance very well, it was both a duty to him and an honor for me to portray him in my book “Pious Tyrants” as a man killed by the pious but tyrannical Church.
The Church and the ignorant people, the court, and the authorities who burned Giordano Bruno no longer exist today.
But today there are other ignorant people.
There are millions who turn a blind eye to the fact that religion is used as a means of oppression.
The injustices and oppression that Christians suffered yesterday are being committed today by Muslims.
Islam is being imposed on people and on Muslims as a means of oppression.
The day will come when Brunos will emerge from Muslim societies as well…
Remain in love and knowledge
