The Jesuits A history

Markus Friedrich

Book - 2022

"Since its founding by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, the Society of Jesus--more commonly known as the Jesuits--has played a critical role in the events of modern history. From the Counter-Reformation to the ascent of Francis I as the first Jesuit pope, The Jesuits presents an intimate look at one of the most important religious orders not only in the Catholic Church, but also the world. Markus Friedrich describes an organization that has deftly walked a tightrope between sacred and secular involvement and experienced difficulties during changing times, all while shaping cultural developments from pastoral care and spirituality to art, education, and science. Examining the Jesuits in the context of social, cultural, and world history, Fri...edrich sheds light on how the order shaped the culture of the Counter-Reformation and participated in the establishment of European empires, including missionary activity throughout Asia and in many parts of Africa in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He also explores the place of Jesuits in the New World and addresses the issue of Jesuit slaveholders. The Jesuits often tangled with the Roman Curia and the pope, resulting in their suppression in 1773, but the order returned in 1814 to rise again to a powerful position of influence. Friedrich demonstrates that the Jesuit fathers were not a monolithic group and he considers the distinctive spiritual legacy inherited by Pope Francis With its global scope and meticulous attention to archival sources and previous scholarship, The Jesuits illustrates the heterogeneous, varied, and contradictory perspectives of this famed religious organization."--

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2nd Floor 271.53/Friedrich Due Apr 4, 2024
Subjects
Published
Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press [2022]
Language
English
German
Main Author
Markus Friedrich (author)
Other Authors
John Noël Dillon (translator)
Item Description
Translation of: Die Jesuiten : Aufstieg, Niedergang, Neubeginn (München : Piper Verlag, 2016)--Title page verso.
Physical Description
xiii, 854 pages : illustrations ; 25cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 751-828) and indexes.
ISBN
9780691180120
  • List of Illustrations
  • List of Abbreviations
  • Prologue: Ignatius of Loyola Founds an Order
  • 1. The Inner Life and Structure of the Society
  • 2. The Society, the Churches, and the Faithful
  • 3. Saeculum and the Kingdom of God: The Jesuits "in the World"
  • 4. The Global Society
  • 5. A World without the Society of Jesus: Hostility, Suppression, Revival
  • Epilogue: The Modern Society
  • Acknowledgments
  • Afterword to the English Edition
  • Translator's Note
  • Notes
  • Works Cited
  • Names Index
  • Subject Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

University of Hamburg history professor Friedrich (The Birth of the Archive) delivers a fast-paced and richly researched history of the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits. Starting with the founding of the order in 1540, Friedrich describes its growth, development, and expansion through its suppression due to political factors in 1773, its restoration in 1814, and its modern activities. Friedrich focuses on the role of scholastic engagement by young Jesuits in the society's early years to prepare them for conversion missions across the globe, which led to the rapid spread of the Jesuits from western Europe to the Americas, Africa, the Near East, and Asia. Anti-Jesuit sentiment crested in 1773 when Pope Clement XIV suppressed the society, but fallout from the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars led the Catholic church to change its disposition and restore the society in 1814. The society drifted toward conservatism during the 19th century, Friedrich explains, before Jesuits realigned with a more progressive worldview in the years after WWII. The author's detailed research mostly impresses, but his cursory treatments of unethical behavior by Jesuits--for example, their history as slaveholders--gloss over weighty subjects that deserve deeper examination. Readers searching for a critical perspective may want to look elsewhere, but Friedrich's sweeping chronicle has much to offer. (Feb.)

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