Beyond the Inquisition

Reviews / Votes

"This is now the definitive study, an expansion and revision of the 2007 Italian monograph, of a figure, Lancellotto Politi, known religiously as Ambrogio Catarino, who played an important role in the theological struggles of the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century. Always considered one of the great Roman controversialist writers against Lutheran currents, the present work shows him in the thick of internal debates within his own Dominican Order, the Council of Trent, and over the enduring Savonarolan legacy, among other issues that agitated papal Rome at the time. The deft translation into English is from the hand of Donald Weinstein, one of our great Renaissance scholars, who sadly passed away before he could see appear in print what must be his last major contribution." -John Tedeschi, co-editor of Dizionario Storico dell'Inquisizione

"It could have been so different. As Giorgio Caravale shows in his elegant study of the pontifical theologian and bishop Ambrogio Catarino Politi, the Inquisition and doctrinal rigidity need not have captured the Counter-Reformation. Caravale lays open the paradoxical career of a highly original thinker who offered a new orthodoxy that was far more open to diversity than the intransigents who won the day. Caravale's engaging book puts paid to the historical categories that have dominated how we have understood the Reformation." -Edward Muir, Clarence L. Ver Steeg Professor in the Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University

"Giorgio Caravale's Beyond the Inquisition: Ambrogio Catarino Politi and the Origins of the Counter-Reformation gives an extraordinarily good idea of Ambrogio Catarino as a man and as a thinker. Catarino has often been regarded as the voice of orthodoxy, but Caravale presents a man who is infinitely more complex, full of contradictions and apparent inconsistencies that illustrate the various tensions created by the Reformation." -Alastair Hamilton, Arcadian Visiting Research Professor, The Warburg Institute

"More than just a biography, Beyond the Inquisition offers readers a unique interpretation of the tumultuous sixteenth century in Europe brought about by the Reformation and leading to the Counter-Reformation. Through close examination of the intellectual life of Politi, Caravale provides more than just a story of a man and the historical context of his ideation, but also a brilliant narrative of the relationships among prominent Catholic theologians during a time of religious upheaval and change." -Sixteenth Century Journal

"This is an excellent and very well documented book. Indeed, nearly half of it is given to endnotes that provide copious quotes from Politi's works and citations from the voluminous secondary scholarship on this critical period of Italian religious history." -Paul F. Grendler, Church History

"Caravale's book remains an indispensable study, a decade after its first publication, amid a revival of interest in the formative years of the Counter-Reformation." -Wietse de Boer, Journal of Modern History

"Caravale does not dismiss the scholarship on the Counter-Reformation; nor does he deny that Catarino was a strong anti-Lutheran. Rather, he brilliantly gives the readers a different perspective on how to understand Catarino as a multifaceted character who played an important role in assisting the Catholic Church's efforts to stop the spread of Protestantism." -Renaissance and Reformation

"[Politi] emerges from Caravale's book as an open-minded theologian, well aware of the shortcomings of philosophical reflection and his scholastic masters, and willing to base Catholic theology on a more biblical and patristic footing." -The Regensburg Forum: History, Philosophy, and Theology in the Augustinian Tradition

"The Counter-Reformation narrative for the Council of Trent was marked by near unanimity among the fathers in opposing Protestant Reformers. In fact, there were many vigorous anti-Protestants who espoused a less chauvinistic stance. Ambrogio Catarino Politi (1484-1533) proved to be such a person. At the Council of Trent, Politi participated in the discussions on predestination and original sin, always orthodox, but different. The book is meticulously documented." -Choice