Santos Bonnaci Prisca Theologia Lectures
Prisca theologia (“ancient theology”) is a Renaissance idea that all genuine religious traditions share a single, primordial source of wisdom. Thinkers like Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola argued that the truths of Christianity were prefigured in earlier traditions—Plato, Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, Zoroaster, and others. Rather than seeing pagan philosophy as opposed to Christianity, prisca theologia reframed it as part of a continuous stream of divine revelation.
This perspective served two purposes: it legitimized the study of ancient and non-Christian texts within a Christian framework, and it promoted a vision of universal wisdom that transcended cultural boundaries. By interpreting diverse traditions as fragments of the same original truth, Renaissance humanists sought to harmonize faith and reason, theology and philosophy, East and West.
In modern terms, prisca theologia can be seen as both an early attempt at comparative religion and a myth of unity. Whether or not one accepts its historical claims, the idea still resonates as a vision of shared human striving toward transcendence—suggesting that beneath differences of doctrine lies a common search for the divine.