In the annals of history, perhaps no story sets itself so violently against the Catholic Church, and Catholic Spain as the black legend of the Inquisition. From claims of the most grotesque tortures, secretive and unjust legal proceedings, and tens of thousands of brutal executions, the Inquisition in the modern world is almost a byword for tyranny.

And yet, the truth of the matter is quite different. In Understanding The Inquisition, Mr. Christopher Check, examines the origins of the Roman, and later Spanish Inquisition, its purposes and procedures, and some of the most persistent myths surrounding it.

Point-by-point, he shows that heresy was not merely a religious oddity, or a difference of opinion, but a dangerous and violent thing that tore asunder the political and cultural life of a Christian kingdom.

This talk presents the Inquisition's true foundation in the Sacred Scriptures, its use of the best of Roman jurisprudence and the relatively benign and merciful practices of the Inquisition's courts.

While denying none of the abused and periodic cruelty employed by Spain's inquisitors, the Inquisition saved untold souls, and in Spain, at least, preserved the social fabric of the country, far after most of Europe's countries were riddled with the Protestant heresy.