Synopses & Reviews
John O'Malley gives us the most comprehensive account ever written of the Society of Jesus in its founding years, one that heightens and transforms our understanding of the Jesuits in history and today. Following the Society from 1540 through 1565, O'Malley shows how this sense of mission evolved. He looks at everything--the Jesuits' teaching, their preaching, their casuistry, their work with orphans and prostitutes, their attitudes toward Jews and "New Christians," and their relationship to the Reformation. All are taken in by the sweep of O'Malley's story as he details the Society's manifold activities in Europe, Brazil, and India.
Review
A masterly account of the first generation [of Jesuits]...carried out with an economy and insight that compel admiration. New York Times Book Review
Review
This is a major study of the first crucial years of one of the most important institutions of modern Europe. Perhaps the price of the impact of the Society of Jesus is that both hagiographical and demonic myths have encrusted its early history. This learned and eloquent study scrapes away those myths in order to tell the complex, almost improvisational history of the first twenty-five years of the Society of Jesus...No study in any language provides such an authoritative and fascinating picture. John Padberg - America
Review
A magnificent achievement both of synthesis and interpretation.
Review
Neither fazed nor overwhelmed, Father O'Malley never loses sight of the forest among the myriad trees...In this book three tenacious myths bite the dust. The first is that Ignatius had a detailed blueprint for his companions...A second myth is that the Jesuits were founded to combat the Reformation and to spearhead its Roman Catholic riposte, the Counter-Reformation...The third myth is that the Jesuits were founded as the pope's shock troops...Far from being a simple chronicle, it is an account of how the Jesuits, led by the internal dynamism of the Holy Spirit, responded to unpredictable events and new needs. Peter Hebblethwaite
Review
This is surely the best book ever written in English on the first Jesuits and the early Society of Jesus. It may well be the best book on that topic ever written in any language. This is a work that is deeply original, always clear, often brilliant. Anthony Grafton - New York Review of Books
About the Author
John W. O'Malley is Distinguished Professor of Church History at Weston Jesuit School of Theology. He is the author of The First Jesuits and Trent and All That (both from Harvard).
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Foundations before the Founding
Ignatius and the First Companions
The Spiritual Exercises
2. Taking Shape for Ministry
The Basic Framework
The Campaign for Self-Understanding
Pastoral Ideals and Practice
Programs of Ministry
3. Ministries of the Word of God
Preaching
Sacred Lectures
Conversation and Publication
Teaching Christianity
Missions to the Countryside
The Exercises in Practice
4. Sacraments, Worship, Prayer
Confession and Casuistry
Holy Communion and the Eucharist
Holy Orders
Music and Worship
Prayer
5. Works of Mercy
Peacemaking
Hospitals and Prisons
Ministry to the Dying
Ministry to Prostitutes
Orphans and Daughters of Prostitutes
Jews and New Christians
Confraternities and the Marian Congregations
6. The Schools Toward Messina and Beyond
The Faith in Education
Transcending the Modus Parisiensis
Jesuit Education
Failures, Frustrations, and Crisis
Training the Clergy
The Impact of the Schools
7.