To speak of relationships in the spiritual life is not uncontroversial. Favre and the first Jesuits lived at a time when intercession in the Christian life was being radically called into question. And surely the Reformers had a point: Catholic talk of the saints can easily slide over into the manipulative or the superstitious. Yet there must be a fundamental rightness in how Favre’s prayer is nourished by memories of human goodness. If God has called the whole creation into being, if God’s purpose is being worked out in all that God has made, then the path to God must of its very nature draw us into ever more intense communion.
Robert R. Marsh, ‘Id quod volo: The Erotic Grace of the Second Week’, 7–19
During the Second Week of the Exercises, we are called to grow in the love of Christ—it is only on this basis that good discernments about discipleship can be made. Rob Marsh uncovers some erotic elements in the Ignatian process, and offers directors of the Exercises some provocative suggestions about love.
Michel de Certeau, ‘Pierre Favre and the Experience of Salvation’, 21–40
Michel de Certeau (1925-1986) began his distinguished academic career with studies of two great French-speaking Jesuit figures in the history of spirituality: Jean-Joseph Surin (1600-1665) and Pierre Favre (1506-1540). To mark Favre’s centenary, we publish in English this classic, eloquent article which brings out the relational warmth of Favre’s spiritual personality.
Phyllis Zagano, ‘Ignatian Spirituality and Positive Psychology’, 41–58
Classically, psychology has often focused on how people’s lives are going wrong; by contrast, Positive Psychology, an approach developed in the last decade, aims to build on what is going well in our lives. A theologian and a Jesuit psychologist explore the convergences between this new psychological approach and Ignatian spirituality.
C. Kevin Gillespie, ‘Ignatian Spirituality and Positive Psychology’, 41–58
Classically, psychology has often focused on how people’s lives are going wrong; by contrast, Positive Psychology, an approach developed in the last decade, aims to build on what is going well in our lives. A theologian and a Jesuit psychologist explore the convergences between this new psychological approach and Ignatian spirituality.
Thomas Knieps-Port le Roi, ‘Marital Spirituality: A Spiritual Paradigm Shift’, 59–74
Married people today are discovering and claiming a genuine spirituality at the heart of their relationships. As they do so, they are inaugurating a quite new way of understanding spirituality.
Ruth Reardon, ‘That They May Be One: An Interchurch Marriage’, 75–88
Ruth and Martin Reardon were founder members of the Association of Interchurch Families. Ruth here writes of how she and Martin met and fell in love, and of how a genuine interchurch marriage became possible during the Conciliar period.
Thomas G. Casey, ‘Kierkegaard the Celibate’, 89–106
Celibacy should not be a state of mere singleness, but rather a rich form of relatedness to God and to God’s people. Tom Casey explores what celibacy meant for Søren Kierkegaard, the noted Danish philosopher.
Philip Sheldrake, ‘Cities and Human Community: Spirituality and the Urban’, 107–118
Human life is becoming increasingly urban, a point with profound spiritual implications. What is the Christian vision of the good city? What makes for enriching human relationships and the fulfilment of authentic desire in the circumstances of modern urban life?
André Louf, ‘Prayer and Ecology’, 119–136
A distinguished French Cistercian reflects on the deep connections between the life of prayer and an appreciation of God’s gifts in nature and creation.
Andrew Linzey, ‘Animals as Grace: On Being an Animal Liturgist’, 137–149
It is a commonplace to think of spirituality as bound up with human relationships, and also with creation as a whole. But what of other created beings such as animals? A leading writer in the field of animal theology explores the question of animals and Christian liturgy.