TARSIA, Giovanni Maria

Good copy of an influential Renaissance treatises on angelology . Giovanni Maria Tarsia (fl. 1564-1607) was a Florentine priest and man of letters of whom little is known. His Trattato contributed to Counter-Reformation debates on the nature and function of angels as spiritual beings, messengers and guardians. A wide-ranging study, Trattato uses religious authorities to present a thorough examination of the theology of angels. It discusses the degree to which angels can be physiologically assimilated to humans do they speak or eat? their creation, intellect, heavenly hierarchies and communication with God, their function as assistants or envoys , and their similarity to demons who were originally fallen angels. Whilst Protestants did not deny the existence and guarding function of angels with Calvinists being a little less accommodating than Lutherans nevertheless, they did not believe in their worship nor did they consider their nature a theological issue in need of extensive study a view which Trattato opposed masterfully.