Bruno - In Praise of Reason

Bruno's praise of Copernicus and his discussion of cosmology, I noticed, is prefaced by a fairly involved praising of "reason". His reasoning, and dismissal of what he sees as clouding or preventing development of cosmology seems to presage ideas you see in the Enlightenment. However, I'm not well versed in much of the period, so I can't say exactly how Bruno fits in between it and the Renaissance. I just found the rhetoric, profoundly interesting, it being a refutation of what had come before.

Also interesting is how he reconciles his ideas of God, what he sees as disproven concepts of the cosmos, and the scientific principles that he sees operating in the cosmos. It reminds me very much of Christian scientists (not Christian Scientists mind you) I know who could go to work every day, researching human muscle cells, go home to bible study, and reconcile and even merge the two worlds. You would think that "science" and religion would be mutually exclusive in cases like Bruno, especially faced with religious persecution.