The Modern Scholar: Heaven or Heresy: A History of the Inquisition

By: Thomas F. Madden

Narrated by: Thomas F. Madden

For many, the Inquisition conjures Gothic images of cloaked figures and barbarous torture chambers. So enmeshed is this view of the Inquisition in popular culture that such scenes play out even in comedies such as Mel Brooks' History of the World and Monty Python's Flying Circus. But is this a fair portrayal? And how was the Inquisition perceived in its own time? Professor Thomas F. Madden of Saint Louis University delivers a stimulating series of lectures exploring all facets of the Inquisition, including the religious and political climate of its time and the Inquisition's relationship to heresy and reformation. With a scholarly eye and infectious enthusiasm, widely published author and noted expert on pre-modern European history Thomas Madden imparts an understanding of the Spanish and Roman Inquisitions while dispelling popular myths associated with the subject.©2007 Thomas F. Madden (P)2007 Recorded Books

Well- Explained

Very clear and understandable lectures. I plan on listening to it over and over again.

Very informative

This covers a lot of history, starting with the Roman origins of inquisitions. The lecturer is very well informed though he does seem to go out of his way to defend the church every few minutes. Even so, he presents the history most have never really looked into in a way that's easy to follow and retain.

It says inquisition wasn't that bad

People liked the inquisition, it got rid of heretics who send people to hell, so it was good. The church can do it because it inherited authority from Peter and negative view of inquisition was made up by protestants and enlightenment people. And the killing was done by secular leaders, not by the church.

Fantastic!

Finally, someone who is teaching real history instead of propaganda! Thank you, Dr. Madden, for putting this course together!

It’s Hard to Think Differently, Isn’t It?

As the negative reviews here suggest, you can carefully explain why people did what they did centuries before us – and still fail to dent the armor of fashionable, self-righteous indignation. You can cordially invite people to make an effort to understand the past. But if they’re too much a prisoner of the present, they will just as cordially fall back on current stereotypes and prejudices. Even after Professor Madden explains the sources of those misconceptions.

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.