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∎ [PDF] Gratis Characters Of The Inquisition William Thomas Walsh 9781163195208 Books

Characters Of The Inquisition William Thomas Walsh 9781163195208 Books



Download As PDF : Characters Of The Inquisition William Thomas Walsh 9781163195208 Books

Download PDF Characters Of The Inquisition William Thomas Walsh 9781163195208 Books

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Characters Of The Inquisition William Thomas Walsh 9781163195208 Books

This book was very informative in clearing up misconceptions about the Spanish Inquisition. Walsh goes in great detail as to who where subject to questioning, and the lengthy, balanced approach taken by the inquisitors themselves. The author does well to make distinctions between those who wanted to clear the faith of subversive, baptized pseudo-Catholic Jews, who had converted merely to advance in social status, but continued to willfully Judiaize, and honest Jews who kept the Old Covenant, who were not subjected to inquiry. Unfortunately, there were instances of outright racial hate crimes, sometimes instigated by bigots out for blood, but this was never, ever a Catholic mandate or professed teaching.

This book is broken in to roughly 6 sections, beginning with Moses and the harsh Old Testament precursor to the Inguisition, as the prophet tried to maintain order and piety amid the wandering Israelites. He then moves into the Medieval and Early Modern eras concentrating on various Inquisitors; Walsh gives lots of social and political context to help the reader understand the motives and aims of the Office. One of the letdowns of the book is the chapter on Tomas Torquemada, probably the most famous of the Inquisitors; the author spends the majority of the chapter describing the scene in which he lived, and very little about his actual life or work.

The biggest drawback about this book is the last chapter. It deals with Llorente, the last Inquisitor General, who betrayed his Church and was swept up with the 18th century liberalisms of the Enlightenment. He spent the final portion of his life writing such scathing material against the Church that France, his exile, actually asked him to leave the country! From this point on Walsh goes into a long 30 page diatribe against 20th century liberalism, socialism, capitalism and communism. Most of his sentiments I generally agree with, but in reference to the rest of the book, they have absolutely no relevance. He doesn't even wrap up his theme to tie it in with the rest of the book. He writes no conclusion to restate his main points or review the general history, but ends with a rant that has no bearing to 90% of the rest of the book. I was generally enjoying the book up until that point, then it left a bad taste in my mouth. Also, the work suffers from a deficiency of footnotes.

On the whole, it worth a read to gain necessary insights into what actually happened during the Inquisition, but watch out for the last chapter.

Product details

  • Paperback 316 pages
  • Publisher Kessinger Publishing, LLC (September 10, 2010)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10 1163195200

Read Characters Of The Inquisition William Thomas Walsh 9781163195208 Books

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Characters Of The Inquisition William Thomas Walsh 9781163195208 Books Reviews


Trying to find a Catholic apology for the Inquisition in the English language, or even an objective work for that matter, is a difficult prospect. Hundreds of years of anti-Catholic scholarship, hyperbole and outright fabrication has left the world with a notion of the Inquisition that allows it to be mentioned along side Hitler's Holocaust and Stalin's Gulags as singular historical atrocities.

Though he himself admits that this book is inadequate as a comprehensive answer to the Inquisition myth-makers, William Thomas Walsh's book is indeed a good beginning. It traces the lives of several prominent figures of the Inquisition beginning, strangely enough, with Moses and proceeding to Pope Gregory IX, Bernard Gui, Nicholas Eymeric, Tomas Torquemada, Cardinal Ximenes, and finally Juan Antonio Llorente. Moses is included at the beginning as a way of demonstrating that the practices and techniques used by the Inquisition had their foundation in the Mosaic Law.

Each of the biographies places the individual in his historical context. Rather than judging them by modern standards, the men profiled are placed among their contemporaries and their actions are judged based upon the prevailing practices of the time. Walsh makes it very clear that those investigated by the Inquisition were not non-Catholics, but instead those who claimed to be Catholics for political or economic gain, but spoke and acted against Church teaching. Heresy was a civic crime in Spain, and those found guilty of claiming to be Catholics while holding heretical opinions were handed over to the secular authorities for punishment.

Though occasionally a bit jumbled and full of historical tangents, the biographies successfully paint the men named above not as bloodthirsty demons, but more often as reluctant prosecutors in a difficult situation. They were caught between the Spanish crown which wanted to seek out and destroy conspiratorial elements in society, both religious and political, and the Papacy which often demanded greater mercy in dealing with accused heretics.

The final section of the book is especially interesting as it deals with Walsh's view of history from the Inquisition up to the time when he was writing in 1940 during the darkest days of World War II. This section is full of memorable quotes. For example, regarding the Protestant reformation, Walsh writes "Heretical movements have never reformed the Christian Church. All of them professed their intention to do so; but invariably their effect was to confuse and destroy Christian doctrine-to dissolve Christ, in the phrase of St. John the Evangelist-without removing the human frailties complained of." Walsh does go, perhaps, a bit overboard in this section in ascribing every evil the Church has experienced in recent centuries to a shadowy Masonic conspiracy. While I don't disagree with this idea entirely, the evidence he provides is simply not sufficient to make his case.

Overall, Characters of the Inquisition is great place to start for anyone wanting an explanation of the Spanish Inquisition from a Catholic perspective.
This book is awesome. The hardcover edition has been long out of print until now. Take advantage of this great book at a great price. The Catholic Church is God's gift to us.
Impressive!
A very informative book about a very complex and controversial period in History The Inquisition. Clears many of the mistakes and myths that have spread popularly about it
A side of the Inquisition that explains its legitimacy contrary to what we have been told in our history classes.
This book was very informative in clearing up misconceptions about the Spanish Inquisition. Walsh goes in great detail as to who where subject to questioning, and the lengthy, balanced approach taken by the inquisitors themselves. The author does well to make distinctions between those who wanted to clear the faith of subversive, baptized pseudo-Catholic Jews, who had converted merely to advance in social status, but continued to willfully Judiaize, and honest Jews who kept the Old Covenant, who were not subjected to inquiry. Unfortunately, there were instances of outright racial hate crimes, sometimes instigated by bigots out for blood, but this was never, ever a Catholic mandate or professed teaching.

This book is broken in to roughly 6 sections, beginning with Moses and the harsh Old Testament precursor to the Inguisition, as the prophet tried to maintain order and piety amid the wandering Israelites. He then moves into the Medieval and Early Modern eras concentrating on various Inquisitors; Walsh gives lots of social and political context to help the reader understand the motives and aims of the Office. One of the letdowns of the book is the chapter on Tomas Torquemada, probably the most famous of the Inquisitors; the author spends the majority of the chapter describing the scene in which he lived, and very little about his actual life or work.

The biggest drawback about this book is the last chapter. It deals with Llorente, the last Inquisitor General, who betrayed his Church and was swept up with the 18th century liberalisms of the Enlightenment. He spent the final portion of his life writing such scathing material against the Church that France, his exile, actually asked him to leave the country! From this point on Walsh goes into a long 30 page diatribe against 20th century liberalism, socialism, capitalism and communism. Most of his sentiments I generally agree with, but in reference to the rest of the book, they have absolutely no relevance. He doesn't even wrap up his theme to tie it in with the rest of the book. He writes no conclusion to restate his main points or review the general history, but ends with a rant that has no bearing to 90% of the rest of the book. I was generally enjoying the book up until that point, then it left a bad taste in my mouth. Also, the work suffers from a deficiency of footnotes.

On the whole, it worth a read to gain necessary insights into what actually happened during the Inquisition, but watch out for the last chapter.
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