A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition by Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane (review)

Reviewed by: A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition by Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane Steven J. McMichael A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition. Second edition. By Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2022. 330 pp. Numerous studies have been written in recent years on the Inquisition, building on the classic multi-volume work, A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages (vol. 1–3, 1888) by Henry Charles Lea. Deane's 2022 study asserts that the Inquisition(s) was a complex institutional reality that gradually took shape in the early Middle Ages and was not fully developed into what would be called the Inquisition until the Reformation era. Mostly local inquisitional procedures sought to root out and eliminate any form of what church officials deemed heresy. This book shows how difficult it is to define exactly the meaning of the term "heresy." "So one person's wicked heretic was another's pious Christian, and between the ever-shifting sides of the debate emerged a complex array of theories, texts, and techniques for claiming righteousness" (xvi). The stated purpose of this book is "to trace the main themes and issues at the heart of current debates over heresy and inquisition, to chart the process by which new central medieval ideals and institutions transformed the legal and social order, and to convey the extent to which, for all parties involved, proper order and salvation itself was on the line" (xvi). These issues include the institutional church and its relationship with its members (both clerical and lay), the role of politics and religion, heterodox belief, sex and gender, the nature of evil, sacraments, magic and the supernatural world, and valid spiritual and ritual experience. It deals with various groups of the medieval period, including so-called heretical groups such as the Good Christians and Cathars (Albigensians), lay apostolic groups, mendicant orders such as the Dominicans and Franciscans, lay religious women such as the Beguines, magicians, Wyclif and his followers, and Bohemian Christians. The book provides a significant glimpse of medieval spirituality. We hear of the various issues at the intersection of heterodoxy and heresy. For example, inquisitors were concerned about Christological issues that were about not only orthodoxy (for example, the End Page 231 divine/human issue of the Cathars) but also praxis. What did the gospel command them to do individually and communally? Scriptural issues also occur in inquisitional literature, such as the use of vernacular translations and disputes over interpretation. In the age in which the number and nature of the sacraments were discussed, a focal point of inquisitional literature and Deane's presentation is the eucharist. The Middle Ages was the age of the flowering, growth, and harvesting of mysticism (using the language of Bernard McGinn) and one of the central issues was: Did Christians have direct access to God beyond the normal ecclesiastical means (the church and sacraments)? We see in this study that inquisitional procedures saw the direct mystical encounter with God, especially in female mysticism, as a threat to the institutional church. This book is an excellent study of the history of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. It is founded on a careful analysis and presentation of the primary records of inquisitional proceedings in various places in Europe. It introduces the many issues that were a concern of these various inquisitional agencies. Nonetheless, it is more than a book about the Inquisition: it gives the reader a significant view of medieval religion and spirituality in general, especially regarding lay apostolic groups, mysticism, and female spirituality. Steven J. McMichael University of Saint Thomas Saint Paul, Minnesota Copyright © 2024 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.