Description: Through analyses of Inquisition trials, biblical translations, treatises on witchcraft, and tracts on the episcopate and penance, Homza illuminates the intellectual autonomy and energy of Spain's ecclesiastics, exploring the flexibility and inconsistency in their preferences for humanism or scholasticism, preferences which have long been thought to be steadfast.
Brief description: Lu Ann Homza is an associate professor of history at the College of William and Mary.
Review Quotes: Offers a sharp critique, or rather a series of critiques, of the conventional historiography of early modern Spanish religion [and] a series of valuable case studies of Catholic thought and practice . . . The book is beautifully written, and adds drama, emotion, and even humor to what might otherwise seem arcane ecclesiastical or scholarly disputes.
--Bulletin of the Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies