Helen Rawlings – författare

The early modern Spanish Church has long been associated with religious and racial intolerance, the brutality of the Inquisition, the repression of intellectual and spiritual freedom, and the fervour and fanaticism that underpinned Spanish imperialism.However, behind Spain's identification with orthodoxy, regulation and discipline in religious life, there lay a contrasting image that modern historians have only recently begun to explore. Helen Rawlings argues convincingly that there is now sufficient evidence to point to the survival of multi-cultural influences in Spanish society, the extent of innovative trends in religious scholarship, the vitality of popular religious culture, the failure of aspects of ecclesiastical reform and the shortcomings of Spain's missionary enterprise overseas.In this invaluable new study, Rawlings evaluates modern approaches to the history of the early modern Spanish Church and examines the results of new research carried out in the field. As well as challenging some of the findings of traditional scholarship, the author assesses and explores the strengths, weaknesses and contradictions inherent in Spain's identification with Catholicism.

This book challenges the reputation of the Spanish Inquisition as an instrument of religious persecution, torture and repressionand looks at its wider role as an educative force in society. A reassessment of the history of the Spanish Inquisition.Challenges the reputation of the Inquisition as an instrument of religious persecution, torture and repression.Looks at the wider role of the Inquisition as an educative force in society.Draws on the findings of recent research by American, British and European scholars.Includes original documentary evidence in translation.

This book challenges the reputation of the Spanish Inquisition as an instrument of religious persecution, torture and repressionand looks at its wider role as an educative force in society. A reassessment of the history of the Spanish Inquisition.Challenges the reputation of the Inquisition as an instrument of religious persecution, torture and repression.Looks at the wider role of the Inquisition as an educative force in society.Draws on the findings of recent research by American, British and European scholars.Includes original documentary evidence in translation.

When, why and how did Spain fall from its pre-eminent position as a leading world power in the seventeenth century? These fundamental questions have exercised the minds of distinguished historians such as Prescott, Merriman, Hamilton, Braudel, Vilar, Vicens Vives, Elliott and Kamen and produced a prolific amount of writing. But while the subject of Spain’s decline has been subject to rigorous historical research, the debate between scholars underpinning it has not thus far been analyzed from a historiographical perspective. What are the methodologies and schools of inquiry that have shaped the discourse? How have historians’ perceptions been influenced by time and circumstance? Why has the ‘Two Spains’ phenomenon endured as a historical paradigm against which to measure its fortunes? These are some of the issues this book will address in its appraisal of the historians of Spain’s decline and their discourse.

This book challenges the reputation of the Spanish Inquisition as an instrument of religious persecution, torture and repressionand looks at its wider role as an educative force in society. A reassessment of the history of the Spanish Inquisition. Challenges the reputation of the Inquisition as an instrument of religious persecution, torture and repression. Looks at the wider role of the Inquisition as an educative force in society. Draws on the findings of recent research by American, British and European scholars. Includes original documentary evidence in translation.