A Culture for the Christian Commonwealth : Antonio Possevino, Authority, History, and the Venetian Interdict

Sammanfattning: In this study, I investigate the authorial intentions of the early modern Jesuit Antonio Possevino (1533–1611) aiming to contribute to the understanding of his activities as an author, diplomatic administrator and missionary. I carry out analyses of his evaluative criteria of various topics and disciplines, such as history, geography, and politics. I also problematise earlier research on the Venetian Interdict Controversy of 1606 and 1607, in which he participated. Main sources to the investigation are the Apparato All’Historia and the Coltura Degl’Ingegni which were initially included in the bibliography Bibliotheca Selecta, as well as the Soldato Christiano. These sources are compared with three pamphlets written during the Interdict Controversy: the Nuova Risposta di Giovanni Filoteo d’Asti, Risposta di Teodoro Eugenio di Famagosta, and Risposta del Sig. Paolo Anafesto. My point of departure for the textual interpretation, are the transcriptions of the sources that I have produced. The methodology of interpretation borrows from Quentin Skinner’s hermeneutics of recovering authorial intentions, without succumbing to a narrow contextualist view. I have complemented Skinner’s approach with the concept of historicity, which accepts person to be able to relate to one’s historical context without being locked inside it.  In the analysis, I use concepts to make the implicit meanings of the texts explicit. The framework for Possevino’s texts concerns deliberative rhetoric, which aims either to exhort or dissuade readers to imitate given historical exempla. In his task of persuasion, emphasis is put on the moral dimensions of the transcendentals (bonum, unum, and verum). The transcendentals also function as his evaluative criteria.Important to the analysis is the concept of traditions. The point of departure for the use of this concept is Alasdair MacIntyre’s definition of tradition as a community with a shared ability to refer to canonical texts, which also shares the understanding of justice, authority, and sovereignty. In my analysis, I show that conflict arose between two rival traditions, one Roman and one Venetian, during the Interdict Controversy. The first part of this study function as foundation for understanding the content that Possevino produced during the Interdict Controversy. Here, I discuss biographical notes about Possevino, as well as characteristics of the early modern Society of Jesus. In the second part, I investigate Possevino’s definition of culture, his evaluation of disciplines, and his use of the principle of accommodation. In the third part, I provide a survey of the early modern Republic of Venice, as well as an analysis of the debates about authority during the Interdict Controversy. In closing, the results of my investigation show that Possevino’s intentions consist of contributions to the common good, which add to a cohesive Catholic culture.