Deus Est Caritas: The Voice of Gabriele Biondo on Personal Justification and Church Reform

Vito Guida obtained his master's degree in Cultural and Intellectual History at the Warburg Institute with a dissertation on the Sacri Monti, in which he explored how their notion gradually shifted from a geographical structure, which attempted to reconstruct the loca sancta, to an interior event that concentrated on personal suffering. In the following years, he continued his doctoral research on religious piety in Early Modern Italy while focusing on the writings of the secular priest Gabriele Biondo. His focus has been on the relationship between philosophy and theology of the medieval and early modern periods, and on the interaction of cultural phenomena and intellectual ideas. Particularly, he has studied the development of theology within the Franciscan and Dominican areas and investigated the conflictual relationship between ecclesiastical institutions and laity. He has directed two seminars: the first was dedicated to the diatribe between Erasmus and Luther about free-will;the second examined various traditional works on predestination and grace by Augustine of Hippo, Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Thomas Aquinas. He is currently interested in the writings and pastoral activities of Giovanni Dominici, focusing on his Venetian period as a teacher of theology and leader of the Observance within the Dominican Order.

1. Introduction: Religious Crisis and the Debate between Divine Love and Justice.- 2. The Life and the Works of Gabriele Biondo.- 3. Philology, Auctoritates, and Source.- 4. Falling out of Love with God: A Spiral Descent into Self-Annihilation.- 5. The Grace of God: The Path of Divine Justification and Personal Redemption through Obedience and Spogliamento.- 6. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus: Salvation within the Ecclesiastical Sphere.- 7. Conclusions.- Bibliography.