His contemporaries called him the Phoenix of the wits; one of his best contemporary connoisseurs speaks of a Mozart for philosophers. In his short life, Pico della Mirandola became famous above all for a speech that the Pope never let him deliver, the Oratio de dignitate hominis. It is considered a pinnacle of the Renaissance understanding of human beings, deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. Pico interprets the creation into the image of God as a mandate to shape the human condition in freedom as an assimilation to God. He bases his insights into the image of God and the ideal way of life on a comprehensive philosophical-theological program that seeks to reconcile not only Christianity and ancient philosophy and traditions of wisdom, but also Christianity and Judaism.
