1. Ignatius of Loyola & the Early Jesuits: Studies
2. Trent & the Catholic Reformation
3. Teresa of Avila & John of the Cross: Studies
4. Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, & John of the Cross: Texts
- John OMalley, The First Jesuits (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1993) NEW in paperback, $18. Must reading. It marks such an advance that most previous
studies look woefully out-of-date. OMalleys great gift is not just the balance
of his historical judgment and the lucidity of his prose, but his ability to put things in
contextto see the forest for the trees. Because the approach is more thematic than
chronological, beginners may also want to consult the works listed below by Dalmases and
Bangert to get the basic sequence of events.
- Candido de Dalmases, Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits (St. Louis:
Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1985) paperback, $14. Best of the recent biographies of
Ignatius. However, Dalmases is by trade an archivist; the style is not lively, but good
precision on matters.
- Antonio de Aldama, The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus: an Introductory
Commentary, trans. Aloysius J. Owen (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1989).
- Dauril Alden, The Making of an Enterprise : The Society of Jesus in Portugal, Its
Empire, and Beyond: 1540-1750 (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Presss, 1996)
hardcover, $75.
- William Bangert, A History of the Society of Jesus, 2nd ed. (St.
Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1986) paperback, $18. A solid survey.
- William Bangert, Jerome Nadal, S.J. (1507-1580): Tracking the First Generation of
Jesuits, ed. Thomas M. McCoog (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1992) hardback, $26.
- William V. Bangert, Claude Jay and Alfonso Salmeron : Two Early Jesuits (Chicago:
Loyola University Press, 1985) paperback, $16.
- Paul Begheyn, "Bibliography on the History of the Jesuits," Studies in the
Spirituality of the Jesuits, Vol. 28/1 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996).
- Philip Caraman, Ignatius of Loyola: a Biography (Chicago: Loyola University
Press, 1990) paperback, $10.
- Philip Caraman, The Lost Empire: the Story of the Jesuits in Ethiopia (Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1985).
- Philip Caraman, The Lost Paradise: An Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay, 1607-1768
(London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 19__). If you have seen the movie The Mission, you
are familiar with the "reductions" in Paraguay and the unconventional mission
techniques of the Jesuits there. A good survey of the rise and fall of the "Jesuit
republic" forged in the jungles of South America.
- Thomas H. Clancy, The Conversational Word of God: A Commentary on the Doctrine of St.
Ignatius Loyola Concerning Conversation (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources,
1979).
- Robert Emmett Curran, ed., American Jesuit Spirituality: The Maryland Tradition,
1634-1900, Sources of American Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1988).
- Cándido de Dalmases, Francis Borgia (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources,
19__) paperback, $18. Borgia was the 3rd general of the Society and imposed his
organizational stamp on the Societyfor good and for ill.
- Francis Edwards, Robert Persons: The Biography of an Elizabethan Jesuit (St.
Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1995). NEW.
- Harvey D. Egan, Ignatius Loyola the Mystic, Way of the Christian Mystics 5
(Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991) paperback, $15.
- Harvey D. Egan, The Spiritual Exercises and the Ignatian Mystical Horizon (St.
Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 19__) paperback.
- Joseph de Guibert, The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, trans.
William J. Young (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1972 / original: 1972)
paperback, $15. Dated in many respects, but still recognized as a classic survey of Jesuit
spirituality.
- A. Lynn Martin, The Jesuit Mind: the Mentality of an Elite in Early Modern France
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988).
- John C. Olin, ed., Erasmus, Utopia, and the Jesuits: Essays on the Outreach of
Humanism (New York: Fordham University Press, 1994).
- John OMalley, "To Travel to Any Part of the World: Jerome Nadal and the
Jesuit Vocation," Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, Vol. 15, #5 (1983).
A fine study of the activist and missionary element within Jesuit spirituality.
- John OMalley, "Early Jesuit Spirituality: Spain and Italy," in Christian
Spirituality III: Post-Reformation and Modern, ed. Louis Dupré and Don E. Saliers
(New York: Crossroad, 1989) paperback, $20.
- D.E. Mungello, ed., The Chinese Rites Controversy: Its History and Meaning
(Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 1994).
- Martin E. Palmer, On Giving the Spiritual Exercises: The Early Jesuit Manuscript
Discoveries and the Official Directory of 1559 (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit
Sources, 199_).
- Hugo Rahner, Ignatius the Theologian (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 19__ )
paperback. A classic study done back in the 40s by the brother of the famous theologian
Karl Rahner.
- Karl Rahner & Paul Imhof, Ignatius of Loyola (London: Collins, 1979).
Valuable photos.
- Charles E. Ronan, Bonnie B.C. Oh, eds., East Meets West : The Jesuits in China,
1582-1773 (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1988) paper, $16.
- Andrew C. Ross, A Vision Betrayed : The Jesuits in Japan and China, 1542-1742
(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994) hardcover, $35.
- George Schurhammer, Francis Xavier, His Life, His Times, 3 vol. (Rome: Jesuit
Historical Institute, 1973). German scholarship at its most exhaustive. More than you
would ever want to know about Xavier; the definitive study, best used as a reference work.
- Juan Luis Segundo, The Christ of the Ignatian Exercises (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis,
1987) paperback, $20.
- Jonathan D Spence, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci (reprint: New York: Viking
Press, 1994).
- Josef Franz Schutte, Valignanos Mission Principles for Japan, 2 vol. (St.
Louis:; Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1980) From 1573 to 1606 Alessandro Valignano held
authority over all the Jesuit missions in the Far East. It was, in part, his missionary
genius that created the successes of the missions in Japan, China, and India.
- Joseph Tylenda, Jesuit Saints and Martyrs (Chicago: Loyola University Press,
1984).
- Ignacio Tellechea Idígoras, Ignatius of Loyola: the Pilgrim Saint (Chicago:
Loyola University Press, 199_) paperback, $12. NEW. Good on Basque background, but unduly
sentimental.
- Martin D.W. Jones, The Counter Reformation: Religion and Society in Early Modern
Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995). NEW. Brief; a good place to
start.
- Outram Evennett, The Spirit of the Counter-Reformation, ed. John Bossy (Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968) paperback, $8. There are many good books on
the Protestant Reformation, but only a few on the Catholic. This is an exception. Evennett
studies how the Catholics reformed themselves through a mix of reformed piety, new
apostolic vision, and new governmental structures. More an interpretative essay than a
historical narrativeso it is essential one has some background on the figures and
events he discusses. Evennett devotes much attention to Ignatius, and his insights into
Ignatian spirituality are unusually poignant. A classic.
- John Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1985). An odd, somewhat eccentric interpretation.
- N.S. Davidson, The Counter-Reformation (Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1987)
paperback, $10. A good, but very brief introduction.
- Arthur G. Dickens, The Counter Reformation, Library of World Civilization (New
York: W.W. Norton, 1968) paperback, $9. A good survey of the key figures who shaped the
Catholic Reform. Fine plates
.
- Elisabeth Gleason, ed., Reform Thought in Sixteenth Century Italy (Chico, CA:
Scholars Press, 1981). A valuable collection of hard-to-find sources.
- William V. Hudon, ed, Theatine Spirituality, Classics of Western Spirituality #87
(New York: Paulist Press, 1996).
- Irwin Iserloh, Joseph Glazik, & Hubert Jedin, Reformation and Counter-Reformation,
vol. 5 of History of the Church, trans. Anselm Biggs and Peter W. Becker (New York:
Seabury Press, 1980)
- Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996)
paperback, $20. NEW.
- John C. Olin, ed., Catholic Reform from Cardinal Ximenes to the Council of Trent
(New York: Fordham University Press, 1990) paperback, $25. A good collection of
hard-to-get sources; valuable intro.
- John C. Olin, ed., The Catholic Reformation: Savonarola to Ignatius of Loyola
(New York: Fordham University Press, 1992; reprint of 1969 edition).
- David N. Power, The Sacrifice We Offer: the Tridentine Dogma and Its Reinterpretation
(New York: Crossroad, 1987).
- Richard Rex, The Theology of John Fisher: a Study in the Intellectual Origins of the
Counter-Reformation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 199_) hardback, $60. NEW.
- Rowan Williams, Teresa of Avila, Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series
(Harrisburg, PA: Morehead Publishing, 1991) paperback, $12. NEW. A fine introductory study
to the lively down-to-earth mystic who reformed the Carmelites. Start here.
- Gillian T.W. Ahlgren, Teresa of Avila and the Politics of Sanctity (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 1996). NEW.
- Jodi Bilinkoff, The Avila of Saint Teresa: Religious Reform in a Sixteenth-Century
City (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989) paperback, $12.
- Joseph F. Chorpenning, The Divine Romance Teresa of Avilas Narrative Theology
(Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1992).
- Ross Collings, John of the Cross, Way of the Christian Mystics, vol. 10
(Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1990).
- Harvey Egan, Christian Mysticism: the Future of a Tradition (New York: Pueblo,
1984) paperback, $18.
- Alastair Hamilton, Heresy and Mysticism in Sixteenth-Century Spain: the Alumbrados
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992), hardcover. Valuable recent study.
- Kieran Kavanaugh, "Spanish Sixteenth Century: Carmel and Surrounding
Movements," Christian Spirituality III: Post-Reformation and Modern, World
Spirituality Series, vol. 18 (New York: Crossroad, 1989) pp. 69-92 NEW in paperback, $20.
- Andrew Louth, Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition (New York: Clarendon
Press / Oxford University Press, 1983) paperback, $18.
- J. Mary Luti, Teresa of Avilas Way, Way of the Christian Mystics 13
(Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1991).
- Carole Slade, Teresa of Avila: Author of a Heroic Life (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1995). NEW.
- Alison Weber, Teresa of Avila and the Rhetoric of Femininity (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1990) NEW in paperback, $15.
- Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises and Selected Works, Classics of Western
Spirituality, Paulist (paperback, $20). This volume, freshly translated by some of the top
Jesuit historians, offers Ignatius Autobiography, which details his
conversion and the formation of the early Jesuits. Ignatius other classic, The
Spiritual Exercises, should not really be read. It is what it says it is: a gymnastics
book for the spirit, and really should be used under the guidance of a spiritual director.
This volume has some good excerpts from Ignatius little-known letters and his Constitutions.
For any who might want only Ignatius Autobiography, see the edition by Joseph
Tylenda published as Pilgrims Journey (Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1989)
paperback, $12.
- John of the Cross, Selected Writings, Classics of Western Spirituality, trans.
Kieran Kavanaugh (New York: Paulist Press, 1987) paperback, $13. John is perhaps the
greatest and most austere analyst of mysticism in the Catholic tradition. His paradoxical
language can be baffling and easily misunderstood by one unfamiliar with the tradition of
negative theology. This is a better translation than the widely used one by E.
Allison Peers.
- John of the Cross, The Collected Works of Saint John of the Cross, rev. ed.,
trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (Washington: Institute of Carmelite Studies,
1991) paperback, $18.
- Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. Kieran
Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (New York: Paulist Press, 1979) paperback, $13. Teresa is
warm and chatty, but is a shrewd analyst of the interior life. This is perhaps her best
work. Once again, this is a better translation than the widely used one by E. Allison
Peers.
- Teresa of Avila, The Collected Works of Teresa of Avila, 3 vol., (Washington:
Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976) paperback, $18 per volume. See especially vol. 1
which has Teresas autobiography (Book of Her Life) and vol. 2 (Way of
Perfection).