"The use of the Bible in Girolamo Savonarola and Contemporaries"

Exegesis work and interpretation of the Bible became, during the Middle Ages,
strong instruments to improve a normative structure to Christian and human
society, a political power able to orient and guide people and a barrier to the
overfowing of secular authority power.
The claim of this research is to investigate this normative and political use of the
Bible, focussing on the period just after and, in particular, on Girolamo Savonarola
sermons. The principal idea is to study the relationship between this main
Renaissance figure and the late medieval era, concentrating on continuity and
differences in the use of texts, but also on the impact of his exegetical work on
the Catholic church during the Quattrocento
Savonarola's works, life and preaching could be, in fact, the key to investigate and
demonstrate political implications of the Normativity of Sacred Scriptures in Re-
naissance and Medieval Florence
After a first, brief period under the favour of Lorenzo Medici, Girolamo Savonarola
becomes one of the Medici's major Opponents and starts a great WOrk of exege-
Sis and preaching against Lorenzo's power as the image of the corruption of the
Christian society. His words are all based on the Bible and its interpretation, and
the straightness of these words is directed also against the Holy See, a church
too far away from God's will and spirit.
What this research aims to study is, therefore, Savonarola's use of Apologetics
and escathological literature; this focus on Eschatology reveals himself necessary
to investigate the relationship between normativity use of Scripture during the Re-
naissance and its enormous political power in the Middle Ages.
The purpose of this work is to identify the principal texts and sources, but also to
recognise the influence of the medieval interpretation in order to understand the
influence of the medieval normative use of the Bible on the early Modern
christian era.
The objective is to evaluate the power of human work on the Bible, the impact of
the different interpretations in human life and society and the relevance of
exegesis to build and maintain united and strong the church and its
orthodoxy through the passing of time.