Church History: The Inquisition

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/qa-1505-inquisition/" target="_blank"><strong>website.</strong></a></p><p>Most of us have heard of the Inquisition, but may be sketchy on the details. Yet this is important stuff - an aspect of history that we definitely don't want repeating itself.</p><p><i><strong>Definition</strong></i><br />According to the <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/inquisition">Oxford English Dictionary</a>, the Inquisition is "An ecclesiastical tribunal established by Pope Gregory IX c.1232 for the suppression of heresy. It was active chiefly in northern Italy and southern France, becoming notorious for the use of torture. In 1542 the papal Inquisition was re-established to combat Protestantism, eventually becoming an organ of papal government."</p><ul><li>Inquisition < Lat. <i>inquirere, </i>to inquire, and <i>inquisitio</i> (noun form).</li><li>The inquisitor is the one making the inquiry.</li><li>Ecclesiastical: pertaining to the church (<i>ecclesia</i>).</li><li>Tribunal: Each session was more or less a session of court. The ecclesiastical authority, after examining the alleged heretic, hand the him (or her) over to the civil authorities, knowing full well what punishment would be inflicted.</li><li>Heresy: not primarily about false teaching, but about division (Gk. <i>haeresis</i>). A threat to the community at least as much as a threat to doctrinal purity of the church.</li><li>Combating Protestant teaching, as well as in the suppression of Muslims and Jews (esp. in the 1400s).</li></ul><p><i><strong>Origins</strong></i><br />It is theoretically possible that some early Christians took severe measures to ensure doctrinal conformity, yet there is no evidence of this in church history until the early Middle Ages.</p><ul><li>In 385 AD Priscilla and six of her followers were beheaded at Trèves (France).</li><li>Yet this event postdates the great apostasy.<ul><li>The church had been sliding into worldliness and bib