Customer Reviews

Order & Exclusion: Cluny and Christiandom Face Heresy, Judaism, and Islam (1000-1150) (Conjunctions of Religion & Power in the Medieval Past)

5 star:		(2)
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Order and Exclusion is a brilliant and accurate micro-historical study on the handling by Cluny of 11th century ideas opposing christianity. At that time Cluny was the most powerfull institute in Europe and the ideas of Peter the Venerable, wich are so accurately described in Order and Exclusion, would have major impact on the development of Europe. The ideas form the basis of every major prosecution of free thinking until the French revolution (and maybe even until now if I read the review of Paul J. Tetreault Jr. well).

The review "History or Propaganda? of August 22, 2004" by Paul J. Tetreault Jr. should not have been written. It is a shame and a warning to society that this man is a lawyer. I did read the book (in french) and was shocked by this review. The writer did not read the book, has no idea about history and generaly is driven by faith. He is a christian fundamentalist and writes as if he is a member of the inquisition. With all dangers related to this. If this represents the way lawyers work in the USA then let us be warned!

A previous "review" entitled "History or Propaganda?" should not have been posted. The writer of this "review" admits in his last paragraph that he has not even read the book! This reminds me of Bill Murray's review of films on Saturday Night Live. Murray would concede that he had not actually viewed the movies under consideration (but at least he made this admission UP FRONT!).

I am going to purchase "Order and Exclusion." And though I have not read it yet, I am going to give it five stars anyway, because I did read a rave review of it in the August 10, 2003 LA Times Book Review. And that review was offered by a Yale University professor of religion.