Intriguing study by McDonough (Political Science/Arizona State) of the growth and collapse of the most powerful branch of the most powerful order of modern Catholicism. The Society of Jesus occupies a special place in the history of post-Reformation Christianity. Founded in the 16th century by Ignatius of Loyola, it rapidly became the most powerful agent of proselytism the Church had ever known. Jesuit missionaries penetrated every corner of the globe and for many years effectively ruled large portions of South America—while their schools gained such a high reputation that the Society soon had a near-monopoly on educating the upper classes of Catholic Europe. The particular strength of the order was its ability to adapt the rigid forms of Counter-Reformation Catholicism to changing circumstances and audiences. In the US, as McDonough observes, this strength eventually became the order's undoing. The pluralistic cast of American society made the sharp credal distinctions by which the Jesuits measured the world seem meaningless (or, at best, esoteric), and forced American Catholics into a siege mentality wherein traditional faith was preserved at the cost of a self- imposed segregation from the main currents of American intellectual and social life. This alienation was especially enervating for the Jesuits, who always and everywhere had made a point of immersing themselves in local customs and attitudes. McDonough shows the great lengths to which American Jesuits went in attempting to cultivate Catholicism in a largely unfriendly environment, and their relief in finding (through the liberalizing pronouncements of Vatican II) the possibility of a compromise. He implies, though, that this compromise was a Pyrrhic victory, since the burden of adaptation and fidelity that the Society had shouldered for so long had, in fact, become their raison d'etre, without which they were to drift into confusion and aimlessness. A very timely report: McDonough's examination of the Jesuits serves nicely as microcosm of the American Catholic experience as a whole.
Pub Date: Dec. 2, 1991
ISBN: 0-02-920527-1
Page Count: 600
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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