James B. Given analyzes the inquisition in one French region in order to develop a sociology of medieval politics. Established in the early thirteenth century to combat widespread popular heresy, inquisitorial tribunals identified, prosecuted, and punished heretics and their supporters. The inquisition in Languedoc was the best documented of these tribunals because the inquisitors aggressively used the developing techniques of writing and record keeping to build cases and extract confessions.

Using a Marxist and Foucauldian approach, Given focuses on three inquiries: what techniques of investigation, interrogation, and punishment the inquisitors worked out in the course of their struggle against heresy; how the people of Languedoc responded to the activities of the inquisitors; and what aspects of social organization in Languedoc either facilitated or constrained the work of the inquisitors. Punishments not only inflicted suffering and humiliation on those condemned, he argues, but also served as theatrical instruction for the rest of society about the terrible price of transgression. Through a careful pursuit of these inquires, Given elucidates medieval society's contribution to the modern apparatus of power.

Extinct since the 14th century, the ancient religion knowna as Manichaeism once extended from western Europe to China. No religious group posed as serious a threat to emerging Christianity as the Manichaeans, whose very name became a generic term for "heretic". Scholars have previously emphasized the Manichaeans' beliefs and myths. The author of this work shifts the focus to the Manichaeans themselves asking how members of this once-flourishing religious community practiced their beliefs on a day-to-day basis. Reconstructing Manichaesim from scraps of ancient texts and the ungenerous polemic of its enemies (such as the ex-Manichaean Augustine of Hippo), Jason David BeDuhn reveals the religion as it was actually practiced. He describes the Manichaeans' daily ritual meal, their stringent disciplinary codes (intended to prevent humans from harming plants and animals), and their surprising religious procedures designed to transform the cosmos and bring about the salvation of all living beings. Aiming to overturn many long-held assumptions about dualism, asceticism, spirituality and the pursuit of salvation, the text looks again at how we view ancient religion and the environment in which Christianity arose. BeDhun's conclusions alter understanding of the Manichaeans by distinguishing them from Gnostics and other early Christian heretics, and revealing them to be practitioners of a unique world religion. Along the way, he argues for the priority of practice over doctrine in determining religious identity, raises questions about the modern methods of studying religions and proposes ways to address the challenge of conveying ancient and alien realities to the modern world.