Jesuit Theater and Drama

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Wetmore
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Spiritual Exercises ◽  
Audience Member ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Educational Theater ◽  
Ignatius Of Loyola ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Didactic Theater

The historic Jesuit theater represents two centuries of didactic theater in which the Society of Jesus, following both the organizational instructions andSpiritual Exercisesof founder Ignatius of Loyola, used theater to inculcate virtue in both performer and audience member while teaching Latin, dance, poise, rhetoric, oratory, and confidence to the students who performed. Jesuit spirituality is inherently theatrical, and conversely Jesuit theater was intended to also be highly spiritual. The dramaturgy and scenography was spectacular and designed to draw audiences who would delight in them and learn the moral lessons the Jesuits hoped to teach while simultaneously drawing them away from a corrupt public theater. This essay considers Jesuit drama and theater in four key aspects: (1) Jesuit spirituality and performative practice; (2) the historic Jesuit educational theater of early modern Europe; (3) Jesuit drama in the missions outside of Europe; and (4) contemporary Jesuits involved in theater.

Jesuits and Islam in Early Modern Europe

2018 ◽  
pp. 348-378
Author(s):  
Emanuele Colombo
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
History Of ◽  
Jesuit Missionaries ◽  
Ignatius Of Loyola ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
Willingness To Engage

This chapter discusses Jesuit narratives of Islam and the Jesuits’ approaches to Muslims in early modern Europe. It argues that the Jesuits’ interaction with Islam was a key component of the Society’s identity, despite the fact that the order was not celebrated for the success of this interaction. It explores the desire of Ignatius of Loyola and the first Jesuits to convert Muslims; the history of Muslims who converted to Catholicism and joined the Society of Jesus; the Jesuits’ tension between a polemical attitude and a missionary approach to Muslims; and, finally, the Jesuits’ willingness to engage Islam and their attempts to study Arabic during this period. The chapter sheds new light on the presence of Islam in early modern Europe and helps our understanding of views that also influenced early modern Jesuit missionaries overseas, most of whom undertook their formation in Europe.

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