Religion and Society in Spain, c. 1492 by John Edwards (review)

324book reviews The importance of preaching is evident in Antoninus's subsequent Summa theologica.Written between 1440 and 1454, the work is a practical manual of pastoral theology whose concerns were dictated by the needs of Antoninus's flock. Despite disclaimers about his rudimentary education, Antoninus produced a Summa that is synthetic and original.The Summa looked to instruct feUow preachers and supply sound guidance on issues of relevance to their ministry.When citing previous authorities, Antoninus showed a consistent desire to dialogue with them. His major source wasThomasAquinas, though I find the references to Gregory the Great most telling. Gregory could weU have given Antoninus his model for a ministry of preaching. Given his preaching mentality and pastoral priorities for theology,Antoninus felt justified in claiming that "the doctrine of the church, when preached, is entirely civic and in accordance with moral phUosophy" f. 197). As a popular preacher,Antoninus chose to engage Ui a dialogue with the values promoted by humanists in their civic orations.Though formed in a scholastic culture,Antoninus was not a rigorist. He found common ground between the civic concerns of the humanists and the pastoral mission of the mendicants.They were united in theU dedication to pubUc speaking and to promoting the common good. This is a very competent piece of research, and my questions are few.The discussion of the appropriateness of studying pagan authors (pp. 121-123) seems part of a long tradition of interpretation of Deuteronomy 21:10-13, the story of the gentUe slave girl who could be taken as a Hebrew wUe once her hair was shorn. I find the formulation on page 237 backwards: humanists valued rhetoric because it underpinned education and because it prepared students for a role in public IUe. Unlike Howard, I believe that the thematic sermon was a product of the AristoteUan culture of the universities. It is a creative rhetorical form, I grant, but one subordinated to the cardinal rules ofAristotelian logic: definition and division.That said, I return to my original observation. Howard has written a fine book onAntoninus because he has helped us to understand how this pastor put the needs of his flock first and entered into constructive dialogue with currents of contemporary culture beyond the bounds of his own theological training. John M. McManamon, SJ. Loyola University Chicago Religion and Society in Spain, c. 1492. By John Edwards. [Variorum CoUected Studies Series: CS 520.] (Brookfield,Vermont:Variorum,Ashgate Publishing Co. 1996. Pp. x, 351. $97.95.) This collection of eighteen studies by John Edwards, professor of history in the University of Birmingham (England), spans the past quarter-century and reflects his interests in the society of Isabelline Spain that began with and grew out of a study of Cordoba, subsequently pubUshed as Christian Cordoba: The book reviews325 City and Its Region in the LaterMiddle Ages (1982). In this volume, except for three articles, the focus is upon conversos, Jews, and the Inquisition. Unlike much of the vast literature on the subject, most recently by Benjamin Netanyahu and Norman Roth, these studies do not advance a singular thesis to explain the rise of the Inquisition or the persecution of Jews and conversos. Instead, Edwards takes for granted the general narrative of events,which begins with the anti-Jewish rioting of 1391, and focuses his attention upon local histories , set in Cordoba, Teruel, Segovia, and Granada. Inquisition records, which Edwards stoutly defends as providing reliable information about human experiences , are the primary source for most of these studies. If this coUection has a general theme, it is the immense difficulties of assimilation created by the large-scale conversions from Judaism to Christianity, first early in the fifteenth century and later as a consequence of the expulsion ordinance of 1492. He demonstrates the permeability of religious boundaries as New Christians maintained ties of famUy and custom with their former coreligionists whUe at the same time trying to disguise theirJewish past and integrate themselves into Christian society.The process of assimUation, despite the roadblocks posed by the Inquisition and by novel theories like limpieza de sangre, was dramatic and painful, but not a total failure. Religious decisions were not necessarily final, as...