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E-book Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa

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Penilaian

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The five-hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation (1517) pro-vides an opportunity to reflect in a new way on the relationship between the Protestants and the Society of Jesus, which was founded twenty-three years later (1540). Before we discuss the Jesuit–Protestant encounter in Africa, which resulted from the colonial expansion of the Catholic and Protestant European empires through the second half of the second millennium, let us begin by providing the broader historical context of the relationship of Ignatius of Loyola (c.1491–1556) and the Society of Jesus, the order he co-founded, to Protestantism.It is a commonplace in current scholarship and popular literature that the Jesuits were founded as a sort of papal troop to combat Protestantism. This anachronism, however, does not find support in the original Jesuit sources—it had been invented, interestingly enough, by Ignatius’s companions near and after his death, and the myth then became part of both Protestant and Jesuit historiographies, although they obviously employed different language to narrate the Society’s origins and goals. The aim of this introductory essay is to show the contrast between the early Jesuit documents and later Jesuit and Protestant historiographies on the origins of the relationship between the Society of Jesus and Protestantism, with a special focus on Martin Luther (1483–1546), often called a “heresiarch” in the Jesuit sources. Indeed, the earliest Jesuit sources describing Ignatius’s life and the beginnings of the Society rarely mention Luther or other Reformed leaders and Protes-tantism more broadly.2 This is quite understandable for those documents narrating the life of Ignatius in 1520s Spain, where Protestantism had very limited impact and the Spanish ecclesiastical authorities, in particular the Inquisition, were more concerned about the spread of the alumbrado move-ment.3 It is striking, however, that the narratives of Ignatius’s permanence at the University of Paris between 1527 ( just after John Calvin’s [1509–64] depar-ture from there)4 and 1535—including those by his first companions like Pierre Favre (1506–46), Diego Laínez (1512–63), Simão Rodrigues (1510–79), or Nicolás Bobadilla (1511–90)—where disputes with Protestants, including the famous Affaire des placards (October 17, 1534),5 made much fuss, lack any significant references to Luther or Protestantism.6 To be sure, the eyes of the first compan-ions were directed more to Jerusalem and its Muslim population as a target of their proselytization than to Wittenberg, where Luther’s movement symboli-cally began.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

266.6 MAR e

Penerbit

Netherlands : BRILL., 2018

Deskripsi Fisik

259 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9789004347151

Klasifikasi

266.6

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Missionary in Africa

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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