Between Christians and Moriscos: Juan de Ribera and Religious Reform in Valencia, 1568–1614 by Benjamin Ehlers (review)

REVIEWS 219 limited mention. Nevertheless, the multiple perspectives are deftly addressed by Fisher, as she juxtaposes—and even unites—the divergent viewpoints (figural and literal) of the clergy and laity. Additionally Eric Thunø, in examining both the material and the iconography of the Sant’Ambrogio altar, raises the issue, by describing the two levels on which audience would have perceived it: “depending on the standpoint of the viewer, the visual experience can either be powerfully sensual, because of the shimmering materiality of the altar or be that of witnessing the sacred story depicted in the gold panels” (66). Despite this weakness, Decorating the Lord’s Table provides an interesting and multilayered look at the aesthetic side of liturgy and theology in the Middle Ages. The breadth of the essays is one of the work’s great strengths, while the methodological concerns that tie the diverse studies together shed new light on our understanding of medieval altars. DANA POLANICHKA, History, UCLA Benjamin Ehlers, Between Christians and Moriscos: Juan de Ribera and Religious Reform in Valencia, 1568–1614 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press 2006) 241 pp. Historian Benjamin Ehlers’s text, Between Christians and Moriscos: Juan de Ribera and Religious Reform in Valencia, 1568–1614, is a highly specified work that provides an in-depth account on the state of religious conversions in Valencia, Spain, during the early modern period. As the title suggests, Ehlers’s central focus is on Juan de Ribera, a bishop who imposed drastic and controversial Catholic reforms upon Valencians—reforms that primarily affected Muslims within the city. In the preface, Ehlers asserts that most of the studies on relations between Spanish Muslims and Catholics are available only in French or Spanish, making a strong case for the publication of his text in English. In the prologue, Ehlers asserts that the primary aim of his text is to restore “human agency to Ribera” in order to understand “moriscos of Valencia” (xiv). He accomplishes this aim by providing a comprehensive biography of Ribera and explaining that the late bishop’s mission was “to establish more meaningful points of contact between the institutional Church and the spiritual development of the laity” (6). Though scholarship in English on Ribera may be limited as Ehlers claims, non-scholarly readers of Between Christians and Moriscos should be aware of the text’s periodic inaccessibility, as its target audience seems to be academics in the fields of religion or history (with particular interest in studies in Catholicism or Spanish Islam). The level of academic exclusion exhibits itself most clearly at moments when the author briskly explains loaded religious terminology that is restricted to a Spanish context. However, certain stylistic elements in Ehlers’s writing undermine its didactic mission, for the author’s diction is, on occasion, elementary and void of academic convention. For example, Ehlers italicizes foreign languages only periodically. Furthermore, the title of the book also generates confusion by intertwining Spanish and English vocabulary. The author’s choice to use the English word (Christians) next to the Spanish word (Moriscos) appears to be illogical and culturally anachronistic. Another problematic aspect of the text is Ehlers’s failure to distinguish Catholics from Christians; he conflates the two REVIEWS 220 terms throughout the work. The footnotes render a final element of confusion by linking to a section of Spanish phrases and religious doctrines in the book’s ultimate pages, rather than appearing at the bottom of the page for the reader’s convenience. Some aspects of Ehlers’s book are slightly irksome, but the problematic instances are minor; the text has a variety of strengths. The third chapter, “Reform by Other Means: The Colegio de Corpus Christi,” is extremely well written , and it illustrates a variety of Ribera’s positive influences in detail. The visual aids between chapters three and four are nicely located and help clarify some Spanish religious processions of the era. Finally, as Ehlers ends his work with a chapter titled “The Ideal Bishop and the End of Spanish Islam,” he fits Juan de Ribera’s role into the broader history of Spain nicely. Taken as a whole, Between Christians and Moriscos: Juan de Ribera and Religious Reform in Valencia is...