Ideology and Inquisition

Ideology and Inquisition by Martin Nesvig is a finely researched discussion of inquisitorial censorship that bridges the fields of intellectual and institutional history. This work provides a unique perspective, as recent scholarship on the Inquisition has produced social and cultural monographs focusing on the Holy Office’s impact on the individual via the analysis of certain crimes such as witchcraft, bigamy, or blasphemy. Nesvig squarely focuses on the internal workings of the institution and the individuals who provided the intellectual guidelines and counsel that made the Holy Office function effectively. More important, it places the Inquisition and its censors in the new and challenging context of colonial Mexico. In part 1, Nesvig provides historical background regarding the concept of censorship as a necessary religious safeguard and explains how the Inquisition became the bulwark against the spread of heretical ideas and publications. Theologians debated the nature of heresy and disagreed over questions of motive, understanding the inner conscience, and the role of mitigating circumstances in heretical speech. The most illuminating aspect of the book is part 2, in which the author deftly documents the challenges faced by the censors in the New World. These issues included competing ideas regarding heretical acts and thoughts, and the role of local policies and rivalries in the articulation of policy regarding such concepts as blasphemy or propositions. Thus Nesvig is able to present a chronological picture of the relationship between doctrine and actual practice and to demonstrate that local custom and creole censors came to dominate in the Mexican Inquisition’s decision-making processes rather than the strictly European mandates formulated years earlier. During 1591 – 1640, individual censors such as the Jesuit Pedro de Hortigosa were more likely to recommend that charges be dropped if evidence existed that a person did not actually mean to say offending statements. The author also provides updated data tables regarding the actual number of formal trials processed by the inquisitors during the period under study and the role of censors in those cases. In the final section of the book, Nesvig briefly examines the socioeconomic positions of individuals who formed the institution, including inquisitors, consultores, censors, and comisarios. He demonstrates that they represented the educated elite of colonial society, although some were better situated and educated than others. The predominance of certain creole families within the institution highlights the fact that they viewed the Holy Office as an important career option. Chapter 9 raises questions about the efficacy of the infamous Index of Prohibited Books in the Mexican context. Nesvig points out that, at least in the port city of Veracruz, the review and confiscation of books was virtually nonexistent. However, more diligent clergymen in other cities in Mexico were more likely to host book-collecting campaigns. Nonetheless, many citizens (and some priests) did not share the Holy Office’s penchant for purging officially proscribed material. This chapter also provides a fascinating albeit small glimpse of the reading predilections of the literate public in the early seventeenth century. Ideology and Inquisition is well written and provides unique insight into the inner workings of the Holy Office and its decline as time progressed. Providing a human face to the institution, the work is an excellent addition to the fields of Mexican intellectual history and Inquisition studies

Blasphemy · Censorship · Colonialism · Conscience · Context (archaeology) · Doctrine · Heresy · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · Early Modern Women Writers · Historical Studies in Latin America · History · Latin American history and culture · Law