Spiritual conversation was a key skill that Ignatius hoped to develop in the early Jesuits. As men educated in Renaissance humanism, debate came naturally to them, and to this they brought a determination to listen deeply to other points of view, whether those of the Protestant reformers in Europe or of the new and diverse cultures they encountered on their missionary journeys. To engage in spiritual conversation is not artificially to restrict talk to ‘holy’ subjects, but rather gradually to let a conversation deepen, to the point where both parties are able to recognise the God who is at work everywhere in the world and within each human heart. This conversational art has lost none of its relevance over the last five centuries.
Roger Dawson, ‘Psychological Foundations of Interior Movements’, 7–14
In his teaching on discernment of spirits, which lies at the heart of the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius speaks of ‘movements’ experienced within the soul that can to some extent be understood. Here Roger Dawson relates these movements to recent psychological research, particularly to theories of the emotions, both positive and negative.
Damian Howard, ‘Communicating Jesuit Mission Today: The Universal Apostolic Preferences’, 15–22
Recently the Jesuits worldwide adopted four ‘Universal Apostolic Preferences’, intended to guide and shape the mission of the Society of Jesus over the next decade. Using an image from the film The Matrix, the British Jesuit Provincial, Damian Howard, offers one way in which these preferences might be effectively communicated.
Bonnie Thurston, ‘The Treasures of Darkness: Poetic Musings toward a Spiritual Theology of Darkness’, 23–39
Much spiritual writing presents light as an image of everything good, with its counterpart, darkness, as a symbol of evil, or at least of all that should be shunned and avoided. By contrast here Bonnie Thurston, drawing on both scripture and poetry, finds
Calum Samuelson, ‘Artificial Intelligence: A Theological Approach’, 41–50
Artificial intelligence is at the cutting-edge of current technological innovation, and the full implications of its development for humanity are as yet far from clear. Calum Samuelson regards artificial intelligence as ‘a tool that amplifies human nature and behaviours’, explores how heological ideas can illuminate aspects of its realisation.
Robert Green, ‘Joining the Conversation’, 51–66
Robert Green was raised in a Christian tradition that regarded the Bible as a kind of infallible divine instruction manual. He responds to this here with the idea of ‘sacred conversation’, continuing to view scripture as a bearer of truth while offering a more nuanced understanding of how that truth is conveyed. It is, he holds, the Bible itself that serves to initiate these conversations.
Gerald O’Collins, ‘Memory in the Spiritual Exercises and John 21’, 67–76
Both Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises and the final chapter of John’s Gospel rely heavily on the concept of memory to make their impact. Gerald O’Collins shows here how this enables the experience of being a loved and forgiven sinner, with an awareness of all the gifts that God continues to offer, can help to deepen Christian discipleship.
Patrick Goujon, ‘Helping Others: The Role of Conversations and of the Spiritual Exercises’, 77–88
At the heart of the Spiritual Exercises lies the experience of conversation: between the director and the one being directed, and, more importantly, between the exercitant and God, in prolonged prayer. In this extract from a longer work Patrick Goujon considers how these conversations work, in a way that is unique to each person involved.
Helen Freeman, ‘Coping with Insecurity Uncertainty and Risk’, 89–96
Helen Freeman is both an ordained rabbi and a qualified Jungian analyst. Here she argues that the ‘dominion over creation’ that humans are given in the Book of Genesis does not enable us to escape through material things from an insecurity inherent in being a creature, and that the security that we crave can only be found in God.
John Zupez, ‘Small Christian Communities Rejuvenating the Church’, 97–109
One of the results of the isolation forced upon many by the coronavirus pandemic has been a deepened appreciation of the value of community. In fact the Church had already, in recent decades, been coming to a similar conclusion. John Zupez describes a number of projects from across the world that illustrate this renewed insight