This book comes out of a doctoral thesis with the same title, approved in July 2017 at the conclusion of a tripartite programme of studies that involved the Birkbeck College (University of London), the University of Geneva, and the University of Trento. The work on the thesis informed a number of my papers and conference presentations delivered to various scientific meetings, particularly those of a series of five colloquia held from 2011 to 2013 and devoted to the theology of potentia Dei, the same main subject of this book. I directed this series of colloquia together with Anton Schütz and with the cooperation of Jean-François Malherbe (†Dec. 2015), Alberto Bondolfi, and Ghislain Waterlot. In addition to these papers and conference presentations, my work on the thesis as well as on this book could benefit from the result of other studies I conducted on subjects that are in particular close connection with the ones analysed here. Above all, I should like to remember the very first text that gave me the occasion to work on the theology of potentia Dei, entitled ‘Il problema della potestas absoluta fra diritto e teologia nel secolo xvi’ (master’s thesis, University of Trento, 2008/2009), and the book that later came out of it, entitled Diritto e teologia alle soglie dell’età moderna: Il problema della potentia Dei absoluta in Giordano Bruno, with a preface by Diego Quaglioni (Naples: Editoriale Scientifica, 2015). Details about other studies of mine that are relevant to the present book will be given in footnotes when necessary, together with details on preliminary versions, if any, of the chapters of this book.
During my doctoral studies, I could count on two scholarships awarded by the Fondation Ernst et Lucie Schmidheiny and the Fondation Zeno Karl Schindler, both settled in Geneva, and by funds received for a project of research promoted by the Institut romand de systématique et d’éthique at the University of Geneva’s Faculty of Protestant Theology and the Centre for Religious Studies at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler of Trento.
Along with the above institutions, my thesis director Anton Schütz, and the co-supervisors Alberto Bondolfi, Jill Kraye, Jean-François Malherbe, Nestore Pirillo, Diego Quaglioni, and Ghislain Waterlot, I gratefully acknowledge the hospitality of Martin Aurell and the research and administrative team of the Centre d’études supérieures de civilisation médiévale at the University of Poitiers during the preparation of this book. I also acknowledge the advice of Angelika Bönker-Vallon, Beverley Brown, Luigi Bressan, Thanos Zartaloudis, Roberto Lambertini, Richard Fitch, Dilwyn Knox, Howell Lloyd, Martin McLaughlin, and Elisabeth and Paul Richard Blum. Their attentive reading and suggestions
Finally, I am particularly indebted to my wife Marisa for her inspiring comments and precious suggestions for improvement and to Mimma, Capretta, Kevin, Strüdel, and Simone for their invaluable support throughout my work on this book.