Library shelves are replete with books and historical research about Jesuits and their exploits. More appear each year, bringing new insight and depth of understanding about Jesuits, their works, their successes, and their failures. Why, then, another? Walsh provides two reasons. First, it is important to “bring some of this new research to a wider audience.” (1) This he accomplishes abundantly well, weaving together more venerable sources with the latest emerging scholarship. His second reason for the book is more subtle. While most histories of the Jesuits “give prominence to what Jesuits did,” in this work he wants “to give rather more coverage of what Jesuits thought” (1–2). It took me a second reading to grasp what Walsh means by this. In part this requires attending to Jesuit involvement in the theological controversies of their day. But the story of what Jesuits thought and how that is related to their history is, as Walsh illustrates over ten chapters, complex.
From their beginnings, Jesuits have been shaped by and given shape in return to the times in which they live and act. These times are characterized by diverse and evolving ideas, attitudes, prejudices, and ambitions. The story of the Jesuits adds to this the encounter between European and non-European cultures. The times explored in this volume are shaped by powers great and small, each pursuing their own ends, often in conflict, and justifying their positions on the basis of their ideas, attitudes, prejudices, and ambitions. Walsh’s telling of the Jesuit story from Ignatius to Francis gives special emphasis to these ebbing and flowing currents of thought, expressed in political and economic interests, religious motivations, ecclesial politics, theological debates, and clashes of culture as these have intersected with, sustained, conflicted with, suppressed, and revived the various works of the Society of Jesus around the world. Thus, Walsh’s “coverage of what Jesuits thought” highlights Jesuit actions they thought about and responded to the complex situations in which they served.
This is amply illustrated in chapter 7, “The Problem of France,” which places the Jesuits’ ever-fraught presuppression relationship with France in the context of Gallicanism, the dispute with Dominicans over grace and human freedom and its implications for pastoral practice, the rise of Jansenist rigorism challenging Jesuit supposed moral laxism, changing attitudes of the French crown toward Jesuits (interwoven with Gallicanism and Jansenism), and papal aspirations for unimpeded authority over the church in France. Walsh ably illustrates the interconnectedness of these forces as they impact Jesuit involvement in France and as Jesuit actions impact those forces in turn. In navigating this volatile mix, Jesuits were often divided on where their allegiances should lie and how best to proceed. Walsh unpacks this complex mélange with clarity and grace. This chapter exemplifies the thoughtful and detailed exposition found throughout the book.
It is also to Walsh’s credit that he does not pull punches when identifying historical Jesuit attitudes, which, today, we would find objectionable, such as his exposition of Jesuit involvement in slaveholding (chapter 4, “The New World”, passim), Jesuit antisemitism as reflected in the policies toward conversos (converts from Judaism to Christianity) (173ff), and theological speculations on regicide (48ff, 182ff).
At the outset of this work, Walsh acknowledges that it neglects many worthy topics. “This, then, is not a complete history of the Jesuits” (3). What has been covered has been addressed in a remarkably thorough, well-researched, and engaging manner. Indeed, upon reaching the final page, I was left hungering for more. A positive sign!
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the Jesuits in history. Those interested in specialized portions of that history will find ample leads for further exploration in the footnotes and bibliography.
