If I recall correctly, when I presented myself at the Holy Office in Bologna, I confessed that as a philosopher I had doubts about the soul’s immortality, the creation of the world, and several other things [...] writing to the Emperor I said I had Hebraized, and did not believe in the Pope’s authority, and in many things was no more inclined towards Catholic opinions than towards Lutheran views.
[...]
Of course, just as I do not deny doubting whether the host was really the body of Christ, neither do my doubts on the authority of the Scriptures come as a consequence of arguments written by heretics (whom I have never read), but for those same reasons on account of which I sometimes doubted the creation of the world, the soul’s immortality and God’s absolute omnipotence (translated from T. Tasso, Le lettere, edited by C. Guasti, 5 vols, Florence, Le Monnier, 1852-55, vol. II, 83, 91).
The above lines are from letters that Tasso wrote to Giacomo Boncompagni in May 1580, a few months after the start of his confinement, in an attempt to explain the reasons behind the doubts leading to his self-denunciation to the Inquisition, and the events resulting in his confinement. As is clear also at several points in his dialogues, Tasso’s doubts derived from the philosophical works read since his youth, namely, the Aristotelian and Platonic doctrines as applied to a number of crucial points in the Christian faith. The large amount of theological reading undertaken during his final decade suggests a yearning to settle those doubts within a religious vision, as well as a withdrawal into himself that comes across in his epistolary. Tasso’s religious outlook is complex, requiring careful examination of his letters and other works. Indeed, while a number of recent studies depict Tasso as having heterodoxical leanings (D. Chiodo, Torquato Tasso poeta gentile, Bergamo, 1998; A. Corsaro, Percorsi dell'incredulità. Religione, amore, natura nel primo Tasso, Rome, Salerno editrice, 2003), it seems necessary to take into account also the sacred works of his final years, namely, the sacred poems and the complexity of the Mondo creato
Religious faith
