Dr. Ingram on Converso Non-Conformism in Early Modern Spain

In his recently published book, Converso Non-Conformism in Early Modern Spain: Bad Blood and Faith from Alonso de Cartagena to Diego Velázquez (London: Palgrave, 2018), SLU Madrid history professor Kevin Ingram, Ph.D., argues that Spain’s early modern social and religious reform movements were driven by conversos.

Dr. Ingram's recently published book breaks with the traditional view that Spain's Golden Age was an Old Christian cultural phenomenon in arguing that early reform movements were driven by the conversos.

He notes that many of Spain’s great early humanists, mystics and evangelists (including the early Jesuits) came from converso backgrounds. In contrast to the traditional view, in which Spain' Golden Age was presented as an Old Christian cultural phenomenon, Ingram contends that this period of intellectual fervor and religious disquiet was inspired by a small minority of converso intellectuals who challenged the mores and prejudices of their society.

Ingram’s book has already garnered acclaim. Mark Meyerson, Ph.D., from Toronto University, writes:

"Kevin Ingram’s trenchant, persuasively argued book makes a major contribution to the cultural and social history of early modern Spain…Although there are many works on conversos, the Spanish Inquisition, and related matters, there is nothing out there that draws on the lives and works of so many New Christians and pulls them together in a cogent, compelling and original argument as this does."