<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Good historical balance, confusing, errant theology
Review: I really don't have a lot to add to what other reviewer's have written. The author gives a very reasonable account of the history of inquisitional methods since Old Testament times, and how the logic of the medieval Inquisition is derived from them. Special attention is given to the cultural context and concerns facing the Church at the time, how abuses were curbed, and what certain figures did to make sure that the Inquisition did not become a means for clerical abuse and self-interest. One of the best features of this book was the pointing out of errors by past Inquisition historians. Walsh reveals inherant bias in some writers, and outright ignorance of evidence in some cases. The chapter on Llorente was particularly helpful. The problem I had with this book was that the author seemed to be a heretic himself, by Catholic standards. He went so far as denouncing salvation sola gratia. On page 222 we read, "Was not Luther's doctrine of salvation by grace alone a restatement, with a somewhat different emphasis, of the old despairing dogma of the Alumbrados, the Manichees, the Gnostics, the Buddhists?" I don't know where he was trying to go here - perhaps he meant to say "faith alone", but salvation sola gratia has always been the infallible dogmatic teaching of the Church (See Council of Trent Canon 1). For things such as this, I hesitate to give this to Protestants. Though it might help clarify the issues surrounding the Inquisition, it might unnecessarily "confirm" their worst fears regarding the Catholic doctrine of justificiation. I simply penned some notes into the margin of this page pointing this out. Overall a good book, but it has its flaws.
Rating:
Summary: Good historical balance, confusing, errant theology
Review: I really don't have a lot to add to what other reviewer's have written. The author gives a very reasonable account of the history of inquisitional methods since Old Testament times, and how the logic of the medieval Inquisition is derived from them. Special attention is given to the cultural context and concerns facing the Church at the time, how abuses were curbed, and what certain figures did to make sure that the Inquisition did not become a means for clerical abuse and self-interest. One of the best features of this book was the pointing out of errors by past Inquisition historians. Walsh reveals inherant bias in some writers, and outright ignorance of evidence in some cases. The chapter on Llorente was particularly helpful. The problem I had with this book was that the author seemed to be a heretic himself, by Catholic standards. He went so far as denouncing salvation sola gratia. On page 222 we read, "Was not Luther's doctrine of salvation by grace alone a restatement, with a somewhat different emphasis, of the old despairing dogma of the Alumbrados, the Manichees, the Gnostics, the Buddhists?" I don't know where he was trying to go here - perhaps he meant to say "faith alone", but salvation sola gratia has always been the infallible dogmatic teaching of the Church (See Council of Trent Canon 1). For things such as this, I hesitate to give this to Protestants. Though it might help clarify the issues surrounding the Inquisition, it might unnecessarily "confirm" their worst fears regarding the Catholic doctrine of justificiation. I simply penned some notes into the margin of this page pointing this out. Overall a good book, but it has its flaws.
Rating: 
Summary: Eye-opening, reasoned history of the Holy Inquisition
Review: If all you have ever read about the Inquisition has been from Protestant, Deist, agnostic, and other non-Catholic authors, you have heard only one side of the story. Walsh gives a completely different sense of the Inquisition, including Torquemada. If you have got an open mind, this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Also should read Edward Peters' book
Review: In addition to the Walsh book, one should also read Edward Peters' "The Inquisition." Peters is a historian at Univ. Penn., and I believe not a Catholic. His book traces the actual Inquisitions for about half the book, and then the fun begins! He shows how over the centuries, the actual Inquistion became what he calls the Myth of the Inquisition, i.e., the exaggerations and falsehoods we commonly believe today. For more information, read the reviews of the Peters book on Amazon.com.
Rating: 
Summary: Nobody Accepts the Spanish Inquisition!
Review: This book is a bit dated, but useful nonetheless. Walsh is unbashedly Catholic, but for me (also a Catholic) this book was a good eye-opener to the world in which the inquisition operated. I now believe that there was nothing intrinsically evil with its institution, abuses notwithstanding. Wlash does sometimes tend to over-defend the inquisitors and their methods, but he does eventually get around to gicing them their due criticisms. There are a few things I would change about this book. First, it suffers from a lack of documentation. From reading other scholarly works, I've found the material presented in "Characters of the Inquisition" to be factual, but I cannot confirm this from the book itself. Footnotes are scanty; the chapters are inconsistently documented. Also, I thought that Walsh's account of the historical development of the Inquisition was incomplete. He devotes an entire chapter to the "first inquisitor," Moses, and the persecution of heretics in the Old Testament. Suddenly, in the next chapter, we are brought to the 13th century, and the pontificate of Pope Gregory IX. His survey of the Church's atitude to heretics prior to this is too brief. He really could have gone into a little more detail, even poting a quote or two from the Church Fathers, and show the development from Patristic thought to that of the Middle Ages. Lastly, this book ended on a really boring tangent. The last two-thirds of the last chapter are little more than a tirade against communism. He expresses fears that the America of his day (the book was written in 1940) is becoming more and more "socialist." Quite honestly, I don't think he made a good case for this, and I fail to see where it tied into the book's thesis and purpose: a survey of the inquisition. Maybe I just don't know a lot about Communism or socialism. I wish Walsh would have taken more time to explain these. Otherwise, this book is a good, informative read. I'd read it only as a companion to more scholarly volumes. (Edward Peters and Henry Kamen have written two good books on the subject of the Inquisition.)
Rating:
Summary: Review from the Publisher
Review: This book is unique in that it mentions Moses as the first inquisitor. This means that the Inquisition was not something that began in the Middle Ages but can trace its roots back to the Old Testament. In other words, the Inquisition was something that started in ancient Israel in the Old Testament. For example, the Mosaic Law(Law of Moses) said that adulterers were to be stoned to death and idolaters were to be executed if they were found guilty after a rigorous examination and trial by the Sanhedrin(the Jewish Supreme Court). The Catholic Church merely borrowed the inquisitional methods from the Old Testament which is based on Scripture. Another unique aspect is that it says that the Spanish Inquistion was much more mild and less severe than the so called inquistions in Protestant countries. The number of people executed was far less than those in Protestant countries. Toruqemada and Ximenese actually reformed the Inquisition by making it less severe and eliminated the abuses associted with it. Torture was rarely used and drastic means of getting information was only used as a last resort for very serious reasons such as to extract information in order to get the names of the conspirators who usually committed violent crimes such as murder. The justice system of the Inquisition(medieval and Spanish) was much more advanced than the secular justice system of that time. This means that the legal methods of the Inquisition is very similar to our modern system. Some examples are the right to have counsel(lawyer) during questioning, the punishment for perjury, cross examination, the right to refute the charges or accusation brought by the accuser, and the cross examination of witnesses. The only difference was that the defendant(accused) did not know the names of the accusers nor did he ever see them or confront them. This could be similar to protecting eyewitness in our modern legal system.
Rating:
Summary: The book that dispels all rumors
Review: When the topic of the Inquisitions are brought up, many people cringe and blame the Catholic Church for many horrible deeds done during this period. Thomas Walsh has done a tremendous amount of research to dispel all those false rumors and vindicate the names of many of the people involved with the Inqusitions. He has chosen 6 particular Inquisitors in this book and goes through their life and the truth behind their characters. What one will find is not some ruthless killer, but men who truly loved God and the Catholic Church. If you have friends who continue the bash the Church because of the myths of the Inquistion, this is the book to give them. After reading this book, you will understand the reason behind the Inquisition and how the Inquistion saved Europe from many of the ruthless and violent sects which had taken root in Europe. This book is filled with historical facts concerning many of the events and people of the Inquisition. The Faith was restored and this allowed the Church to prosper amongst the many heresies which had seduced so many people. If you really want to understand the historical facts behind the Inquisition, Thomas Walsh and his book are the place to start.
Rating:
Summary: The book that dispels all rumors
Review: When the topic of the Inquisitions are brought up, many people cringe and blame the Catholic Church for many horrible deeds done during this period. Thomas Walsh has done a tremendous amount of research to dispel all those false rumors and vindicate the names of many of the people involved with the Inqusitions. He has chosen 6 particular Inquisitors in this book and goes through their life and the truth behind their characters. What one will find is not some ruthless killer, but men who truly loved God and the Catholic Church. If you have friends who continue the bash the Church because of the myths of the Inquistion, this is the book to give them. After reading this book, you will understand the reason behind the Inquisition and how the Inquistion saved Europe from many of the ruthless and violent sects which had taken root in Europe. This book is filled with historical facts concerning many of the events and people of the Inquisition. The Faith was restored and this allowed the Church to prosper amongst the many heresies which had seduced so many people. If you really want to understand the historical facts behind the Inquisition, Thomas Walsh and his book are the place to start.
<< 1 >>
| 
