[An] engagingly written and meticulously researched book... Schutte surveys an impressive array of material dealing with how pretense of holiness was conceptualized.
Andrew Keitt Sixteenth Century Journal A compendious, broad-ranging account of the theological and canonical culture of the Counter-Reformation... Schutte deploys her twelve cases to illustrate the class and gender characteristics of the Inquisition's examination of would-be saints ... Read moreand their disciples.
Stanley Chojnacki Journal of Social History The greatest merit of this masterfully-structured and elegantly-written book consists in its efforts to explore the discourse concerning the pretense of holiness and the judges' mental and cultural categories.
Adelisa Malena Renaissance Quarterly A masterful synthesis of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Inquisitional history, demonstrating how-at least from the Church's perspective-its post-Tridentine efforts to discipline, confessionalize, and centralize had paid off. Journal of Religion 2004 Learned and insightful... Schutte embarks upon a wide-ranging examination of the intellectual underpinnings of accusations of false sanctity and provides a wealth of information about court procedure, canon law, and theology. She is as interested in the development of ideas about 'genuine' and 'false' holiness as she is in their practitioners.
Jodi Bilinkoff Journal of Modern History 2004 Schutte provides lucid introductions to topics as varied as inquisitorial procedure, medical theories of ecstasy, theologians' efforts to distinguish good spirits from evil ones, and learned and commonplace assumptions about gendered bodies.
Daniel Bornstein Historian 2006 Show Less