{"title":"Umberto Grassi","description":"\u003cp\u003eUmberto Grassi's works delve into the intricate layers of \u003cstrong\u003ehistory and military\u003c\/strong\u003e narratives, offering readers a profound exploration of past events and their enduring impacts. Through his evocative storytelling, Grassi illuminates the hidden facets of human experience within historical contexts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a focus on themes such as faith, conflict, and memory, his writing invites reflection on the complexities of history. Readers can expect thoughtfully crafted prose that balances factual insight with a compelling literary voice.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"what-god-kept-for-himself-by-umberto-grassi-9780674302860","title":"What God Kept for Himself","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBetween the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, a series of highly controversial Inquisition trials took place throughout the Italian peninsula. The defendants were all accused of the same heresy: claiming that Adam and Eve's original sin had been committing sodomy, a \"celestial\" pleasure reserved for God alone. Such claims were not merely subversive sexual innuendo. Rather, they were the most radical expressions of a much broader critique—one that not only targeted repressive sexual taboos but also denounced the corruption of the Church, questioned the authority of the pope, and suggested that organised religion itself was a hoax designed to maintain elite power.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Umberto Grassi shows, these dissenters' beliefs about sexual freedom came to play a crucial role in the development of sceptical and atheistic positions. Many of the accused argued that, by violating God's exclusive right to engage in sodomy, Adam and Eve dared to make themselves like gods. This view, which led to charges of atheism, radicalised a more widely held belief that the ruling classes banned sodomy to prevent the masses from enjoying it. In turn, such heresies fuelled indictments of Christian morality as an all-too-human invention, whose purpose was to reinforce a social order in which the ruling classes controlled both sexuality and religious truth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTracing a radical tradition of thought on trial, \u003cem\u003eWhat God Kept for Himself\u003c\/em\u003e establishes the firm relationship between sexual nonconformity and religious dissent in the early modern Mediterranean world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47562878976236,"sku":"9780674302860","price":94.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780674302860-what-god-kept-for-himself.jpg?v=1776989630"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/umberto-grassi.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}