Saturday, October 27, 2012

My Escape from the Auto De Fe at Valladolid

Most of us are more familiar with the events of the reformation in Germany and England than in France or Spain. Do you remember a Reformation Day fair that your local church put on? It probably featured the nailing of the 95 Theses by Luther in his monkish robe to the church door in Wittenberg. You may also remember that Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, had ordered Luther to appear before the Diet in Worms to answer for his “heretical” views. Now Charles V was actually a Spaniard and not a German. Spain had been in league with the Pope in Rome for a long time and persecuted any and all who gave the Lutheran “heresies” an ear. That is the backdrop of the historical novel “My Escape from the Auto De Fe at Valladolid”. The Auto De Fe is an arm or the Spanish Inquisition from which there was no deliverance and no escape. That is about where this incredible story begins. The names of the hero and the immediate antagonists may be fictional but the account itself, the times and the places are not. Liberty, freedom of religion, and the rights of conscience have been won by the reformers and countless “heretics” who paid the standard price for these inalienable rights: persecution, torture, and death. Jesus said “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.” (Mat. 16:25) My family and I couldn’t put the book down. It will forever be an unforgettable reading experience for all of us. Paperback, 138 pages, $11.95 available at the Homeschool Hangout Bookstore --Hanno

No comments: