Heaven or Heresy eru fyrirlestrar um tilurð rannsóknarréttar kirkjunnar í Evrópu á miðöldum. Mér fannst sérstaklega skemmtilegt að kynnast mörgu nýju sem hér var sett fram. Madden heldur því m.a. fram að rannsóknarréttur kirkjunnar hafi oft á tíðum sýnt vandaða starfsemi og verið hvað mest umhugað um sálarhjálp þeirra sem voru rannsakaðir. Hins vegar hafi verið margar útgáfur af rannsóknarréttinum og oft hafi þeir heyrt undir staðbundin yfirvöld sem voru sérstaklega gjörn á aftökur. Pyntingar voru aftur á móti hluti af réttarkerfi miðalda, háðar sérstökum reglum og ættaðar frá réttarfari Rómverja. Slæm orðspor rannsóknarréttarins hefur verið endurskoðað síðustu ár, sérstaklega eftir að opnaður var aðgangur að skjölum Vatikansins, og Madden rekur hér t.a.m. ástæður þess að almenningsálitið varð jafn slæmt og raun ber vitni með umfjöllun um þjóðtrú, áróður og bókmenntir svo eitthvað sé nefnt. ( )

The book changed my pre-conceived notions about the Inquisition. I was especially surprised to hear details which ran counter to the popularized movie version of the Spanish Inquisition. Interesting. ( )

Thomas Madden's book had some surprises in it for me, specifically in the idea that the Spanish Inquisition, as we've come to know it, was far from being as horrible as commonly understood. This is based on more modern historical research into papers and writings from the era, as opposed to the Hollywood version most of us are familiar with. The book has a number of interesting insights in it, and certainly gave me a new outlook on the Inquisition, and the history of Christianity. ( )

The series of lectures are excellent in several ways. The information is presented in a logical manner, the professor is highly knowledgeable, and the level of detail is appropriate. I learned a lot from these lectures. I recommend this series of lectures to anyone interested in religious history. ( )

Another audio course in The Modern Scholar series, History of the Inquisition is third series I've done this year. In terms of content, it was the most interesting of the three. While we all think of the Inquisition as Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition; the origins, considered the Medieval Inquisition, and the Roman Inquisition operated much differently in form and function. Professor Madden does a good job explaining the myth of the Inquisition compared with its reality -- a pious populace often welcomed the assistance of an Inquisitor, whose expressed purpose was to ensure the people were on a righteous path following the tenants of the church as determined by the authorities (the pope and his cronies).

The myths aren't completely without basis in fact. The Spanish Inquisition killed thousands, many of them Jews who converted to Christianity in an earlier, ill-conceived pogrom led by King Ferdinand (Christopher Columbus' sponsor). Unfortunately for the converts, Jews in general were immune to the attentions of the Inquisitors.

Madden wraps up with a discussion of how the Inquisition is portrayed in literature and now movies. This is a very thorough investigation on a rather narrow subject, and content-wise it is done very well. Unfortunately, Professor Madden is not a particularly talented speaker -- there are a lot of awkward pauses, "umms" and "ahhs"; and many moments where he clearly lost track of his point and attempted to recover by restating the previous statement. It was very much like listening to a poor public speaker.

So far, the series is 1/3 on speakers, 2/3 on content, and 3/3 on overall value. ( )