Gosh I'd love to know what you're reading about this. DO tell me you're not writing off the top of your head. Let me suggest E.F. Peters on the Spanish Inquisition - a useful contemporary source. If you're reading ANYTHING written by a 19th century English speaker (especially if his name is Lea), you are toying with the
Leyenda Negra. --
MichaelTinkler
In fact, skimming back through earlier versions, someone had a pretty good version of the
converso problem. I wonder why it disappeared? --
MichaelTinkler
Which inquisition murdered
Jan Hus? --
AxelBoldt
- not an inquisition at all, but the [Council of Constance]?. The Conciliar movement wasn't all it was cracked up to be by 19th century historians. --MichaelTinkler
this is worse than it used to be. "Resistance was usually futile." Tell it to the popes! The Arian situation was NOT solved by the Council of Nicaea. In fact, because of imperial patronage Arianism became the variety of Christianity most consistently supported by the government for the next 50 or so years. Constantine didn't make Christianity the state religion - that was
Theodosius I in the 380s. --
MichaelTinkler
Removed from entry:
- In the first two centuries after Jesus Christ, many sects with wildly differing beliefs could call themselves Christian, and no one could authoritatively contradict them. However, after Emperor Constantine I legalized Christianity and the various local administrations were subordinated to the hierarchy centered in Rome, arguments could be resolved by Church Councils. The first such council, which had the most extensive effects, was the [Council of Nicea]?, which formulated the [Nicean Creed]? in 325. Those whose beliefs or practices deviated sufficiently from the orthodoxy of that Creed and other rulings of the councils could now be made "brought back to the fold" by the shepherd of the Church. Resistance was usually futile.
See my comments above. I tried revising it (e.g., changing 'established as state church' to 'legalized') but then I realized that it's too messy to rewrite. I'll try something on the entry. --MichaelTinkler
What happened to NPOV? Yes, the Inquistions to us are pretty scary, but could we please try to remember that, to the vast majority of people living at the time of the first two Inquisitions discussed in this article, heresy was a BAD thing. Heresy existed, and not because of some conspiracy by Authority. Heretics not only went to hell, but their very presence in society put others at risk. At least, that's how your average medieval Christian would see it. CONTEXT IS IMPORTANT.
JHK
Heresy is only a problem for religions that have centrally defined doctrines and dogma.
- I removed this, because the article is about the Inquistions. This should be in an article about heresy. --STG
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