Jesuit scientific tradition and Ignatian spirituality (original) (raw)
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JESUIT SCIENTIFIC TRADITION. A SUMMARY
Since their foundation Jesuits have a remarkable scientific tradition not comparable con that of any other institution in the Catholic Church. Here I present a summary of the different contributions of Jesuits to the natural sciences. It is divided into two parts. The first from the foundation of the order in 1540 to its suppression in 1773. The second from its restoration in 1814 to the present. A bibliography is added of general works on the subject.
Jesuit contribution to science, 1814-2000. A Historiographical Essay
After their restoration in 1814, the Jesuits renewed their scientific tradition and have continued it up to the present day. Although this period has not received as much attention as the one stretching from the foundation of the order in 1540 to its suppression in 1773, the establishment of observatories throughout the world, beginning in 1824 and tapering off since about 1970, has aroused a certain degree of interest among historians. Articles on the subject are divided into those of general scope and those dealing with specific observatories. The fields of astronomy, meteorology, and geophysics are of particular interest, and special attention is given to the study of tropical hurricanes, seismology, and geomagnetism. These articles are a good source of information about Jesuits' work in the observatories. But other Jesuit scientific contributions have received little attention. One such neglected subject is the research conducted at Jesuit colleges and universities in fields like mathematics, physics, and biology. Contributions to biology and environmental studies, especially in India, are a more recent concern that the literature has yet to address. Another area awaiting fuller development is the biography of Jesuit scientists, although some attention has been given to Angelo Secchi (1818–78) and Stephen Perry (1833–89). (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin [1881–1955], who has a very abundant bibliography devoted to him, is a special case.) The spirituality of Jesuit scientists and their position in the dialogue between science and religion are ripe for further exploration as well.
Jesuit Science Revisited: Scope, Usefulness, and Challenges of a Historiographical Label
Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 2022
The label of ‘Jesuit Science’ is frequently used in academic and popular literature, but it remains rather poorly defined and is in fact avoided by some specialists in the field. The present essay places some of the most recent monographic publications on Jesuit contributions to science within a critical discussion about the scope, usefulness, and challenges of the label ‘Jesuit Science’ in historical research. With this meta-study I set out an argument for what I call a case-sensitive approach to the term, that is, the importance of distinguishing between different notions of ‘Jesuit Science’. In some cases, it might be possible and useful to identify something specifically Jesuit, while in other cases it might be more prudent and adequate to highlight the shared ground with other historical actors and not to stipulate any core Jesuit identity beyond the actors being members of the Society of Jesus.
Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu , 2022
After 1814-when the Society of Jesus was restored following its papal suppression in 1773-a new chapter in the history of Jesuit contributions to the natural sciences began. In Europe, during the nineteenth century, there was a profound change in education, which increasingly came to be viewed as a public service to be delivered by the state. Thus, governments established new public institutions at all levels of education with peremptory official regulations and study programs at the three established levels (i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary or university). Private institutions also were bound to follow these regulations overseen by the state. Within these education programs, a pronounced emphasis was placed on the natural sciences. In the case of the newly-restored Society of Jesus, which had lost custodianship of the many schools and universities entrusted to it before the suppression, mainly in Europe (nearly six hundred in total)-Jesuits found they needed to adapt these programs to the new and restored institutions of the Society. As a consequence, many Jesuits became teachers and professors of natural sciences in their educational institutions (primary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities), both those that were new foundations as well as those with which they were associated before the suppression. In so doing, they were following a tradition already present in the Old Society. Jesuit-run schools and colleges, especially at the secondary school
Catholic Education and the Study of Science: The Mysticism of Scientific Pursuit
Religions
In the past forty years, science has been gradually relegated to technology and utilitarian knowledge. To avoid forgetting what science truly is, it is paramount to train students to discern the difference between scientific knowledge and technological progress. Catholic education possesses the necessary tools to achieve such a goal and to give back, to science, its rightful place in human knowledge as a mystical instrument that can demonstrate the logic in the existence of a Creator beyond creation and enable humanity to climb the mountain of truth. The starting point of this ascent is to use scientific approaches to unravel the laws that govern the natural world. At the top of the mountain, the climber will contemplate the hidden mysteries of the Creator and His creation. In this paper, the development of science, from a united body of knowledge to a compartmentalized ensemble of different disciplines, will be presented. The difference between science as liberal knowledge and tech...
Benedictus Pererius: Renaissance Culture at the Origins of Jesuit Science
Science & Education, 2006
Benedictus Pererius (1535-1610) published in 1576 his most successful book De principiis, after he had taught philosophy at the Roman College of the Jesuits. It will be shown that parts of this book are actually based on his lectures. But the printed version was intended as a contribution to the debate within his Order on how science should be conceived. Pererius redefined the meaning of scientific speculation to the effect that metaphysics was split into ontology and natural theology, and that further speculative sciences, such as physics, gained their own competence. Throughout this book, as well as in his warning against magic and in his commentaries on the Bible, the Jesuit addresses Renaissance strains of neo-Platonism, Aristotelianism, and syncretism.