
The Modern Scholar: Heaven or Heresy: A History of the Inquisition
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Narrated by:
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Thomas F. Madden
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By:
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Thomas F. Madden
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Very informative
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Well- Explained
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It says inquisition wasn't that bad
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Most importantly, one is able to try to understand WHY a sane person would support such a practice. From this vantage point of history, the Inquisitors seem out of their skulls, but I appreciated the professor's lectures precisely because the picture that came through was of rational men taking their beliefs to a logical end. It was enlightening to try to get into their shoes.
The lectures kept me interested. I suspect Dr. Madden is a strong Catholic, but every author and every teacher is biased.
Some of the best info on the Inquistion out there
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A decent course
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He recognizes real failings by the inquisitions, how they happened, etc., and also how the common understanding of "The Inquisition" is a myth made in the 18th Century by successful propagandists like John Fox and Friedrich Schiller.
Worth the listen, whether you respect or suspect the work of the inquisitions. For the former, it gives you a realistic and grounded view. For the latter, it gives pause and sources to follow up on.
This is what history classes should be.
Quite straightforward and balanced
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Fantastic!
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Madden does all that and more, and he does it in a reasoned, balanced fashion. Both his words and the tone in which he speaks are careful, scholarly, unpolemical. He sheds new light on old canards. He addresses the many forms the inquisition took, dealing with each in its time and place. For me, the biggest revelation here is that the Church was a buffer between the heretics it was trying to persuade and the secular, state-run inquisitions that wanted to burn them.
No, Professor Madden is not the world’s best public speaker – he is a much better writer, as any of his books will demonstrate. But as noted above, his rather sleepy performance helps to drain his lectures of any hint at special pleading.
It’s Hard to Think Differently, Isn’t It?
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above is based on listening to the audio up to the inquisition - i had to give it up. hoping audible will refund my $.
willfully naive apologia
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What disappointed you about The Modern Scholar: Heaven or Heresy: A History of the Inquisition?
This is a deeply troubling lecture series. Delivered at a reputable college (St. Louis University), the author insists that the Inquisition had its heart in the right place and only meant to spread the word of God through Europe. He implies that the widespread torture and murder of Jews and other minorities was simply a overzealous extension of a perfectly reasonable idea.Madden glosses over the atrocity that was the Inquisition in favor of a Catholic-friendly "explanation" of why things happened.
There are some interesting historical details here -- and it's fascinating to hear the story from the villain's POV -- but it's jaw-dropping that this is how generations of Catholic students are taught the darkest period in their faith's history.
"The Inquisition Was Good"
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