This study explores the emergence of an implicit philosophy of attention within the historicist hermeneutics of apocalyptic thought in sixteenth-century Reformed Zurich. Focusing on the anticristological writings of Heinrich Bullinger, Rudolf Gwalther, and Heinrich Wolf, and read against the background of the historicist legacy of Joachim of Fiore, it argues that Reformed apocalyptic exegesis presupposes a structured form of attentio. In this context, attention is not merely devotional or psychological. It functions as a selective and interpretative vigilance directed toward Scripture and history, enabling the recognition of signs, stages, and turning points within a providential narrative. The identification of the Antichrist becomes part of a broader semiotics of history, requiring disciplined discernment, moral responsibility, and eschatological orientation. Sixteenth-century Zurich thus emerges as a significant laboratory in which attention operates as a mediating category between exegesis, historical consciousness, and ecclesial identity, revealing its central role within early modern theology of history.
Mario Lupoli teaches Philosophy of History and Academic Writing at the Pontificia Universitas Antonianum. He holds degrees in Philosophy (History of Medieval Philosophy) and in Theology (History of the Reformation). He earned a PhD in Philosophy (historical-theoretical track) with a dissertation on the philosophy of history of the English Franciscan friar Roger Bacon, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Instituto de Estudos Filosóficos. He further specialized in Critical Theory of Society at the Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca. He teaches Philosophy and History in high school and cooperates with the Chair of History of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Naples. He also carries out teaching and research activities at various Faculties and academic institutions. His current research focuses on theologies and philosophies of history between the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. Among his most recent publications are La filosofia della salvezza di Ruggero Bacone (Rome, 2025), Il limite (ed., with A. Bizzozero, Rome–Caltanissetta 2025), and Pensare la storia (ed., with A. Bizzozero, Rome–Caltanissetta 2026).