Saints and Sinners (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Eamon Duffy
- First Published: 1997
- Type of Work: History and religion
- Time of Work: 33-1997
- Setting: Primarily Rome and elsewhere in Europe
- Genres: Nonfiction, History
- Subjects: Power, personal or social, Religion, Aristocracy or aristocrats, Italy or Italians, Popes or papacy, Renaissance, Theology
- Locales: Europe, Rome, Italy
Good books normally arise from good ideas, skillfully realized in print. Eamon Duffy’s Saints and Sinners is an example of a very good book in the service of a very questionable idea. A renowned Cambridge University scholar, Duffy was invited by S4C, the Wales television company, to produce a volume to accompany its six-part series on the papacy. As a rule, scholars should refuse such invitations, especially if their field is religion, because one is required to “dumb down” the material, making it appealing to the broadest possible audience. From the start,...
[The entire page is 2337 words long]
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