Jesuits: A Multibiography - Softcover

Lacouture, Jean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1887178600 ISBN 13: 9781887178600

Publisher: Counterpoint, 1997

Synopsis

In this magisterial account, Jean Lacouture portrays the sweep of five hundred years of world history, from the dungeons of the Vatican to the jungles of South America to the royal courts of Europe and Asia. Jesuits: A Multibiography is history with a human face, the fascinating tales of men of the spirit who participated in the actions and passions of the modern world, a "world bursting its seams." "Be all things to all men," said the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola, to his followers. "Go and set the world ablaze!" The often picaresque story takes us to the Paris of Rabelais, where Ignatius, with a handful of his fellow students, formed what would become the Society of Jesus. We follow Francis Xavier to Japan and Matteo Ricci to China. We watch as the Society grows into Christendom's most powerful order, and as the "Black Legend" of a calculating, Machiavellian Jesuitry leads to its abolition in 1773 (it was restored forty years later). We see the great characters of history and culture-Pascal, Voltaire, Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great-play their parts. One of Jean Lacouture's most poignant portraits is of the twentieth century's most famous and beloved Jesuit, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a scientist-priest whose humanistic conclusions put him at odds with the Church. Lacouture's wide-ranging narrative illuminates Pope John XXIII's reforms and the Jesuit-inspired liberation theology movements in Central and South America. With the papacy of John Paul II, a riveting drama unfolds as the Jesuits are brought under new constraints.

About this title

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Review:

Jesuits: A Multibiography is history meticulously reconstructed and eminently readable, history that comes to life through human faces. Carefully translated from the original French by Jeremy Leggatt, Jesuits: A Multibiography is a narrative history of the famous "Society of Jesus" of the Roman Catholic church. The Jesuits have been players in the most important cultural, political, and intellectual debates for the past 500 years. Jean Lacouture has written an engaging "multibiography" of the startling and contradictory individuals who became the leaders of the Society of jesus as it grew to become the most power order in Christendom. Lacouture's fluent use of diaries, letters, and memoirs weaves together blazing portraits of Ignatius of Loyola and the first founders of the order. Lacouture traces the growth of the Order through to its most recent leaders, Pedro Arrupe and Peter Hans Kolvenbach, and looks squarely at the Order's many tensions with the Vatican in the last 40 years. Lacouture portrays the Jesuits as progressives, as "global humanists", bringing the teachings of Christ to the secular world. Lacoutre explores their work in China, Japan, Vietnam, India, Paraguay and Brazil. The Jesuits' attempt to establish a sister order of nuns (and the priests and women involved) also receives a fascinating discussion. The Jesuits have been so influential that they are among the key architects of modern thought. Jesuits: A Multibiography is a fascinating reader for all students of Western culture and Church history. -- Midwest Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1887178600
• ISBN 13: 9781887178600
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 564