|
COPYRIGHT 2003 Modern Humanities Research Association
Liam Brockey's doctoral dissertation proposes a new vision of the history of the Society of Jesus in China, from its inception in 1579 until the first decade of the eighteenth century. (1) It deals with a period characterized by both a diversification of the Jesuits' activities and a geographical expansion of their influence. To understand the reasons for this expansion, Brockey considers it necessary to explore the specifically religious dimension of the missionaries' activities, in particular their spiritual and intellectual formation, their motivations from the realm of belief, and their involvement in the intensification of devotional practices occurring simultaneously in Catholic Europe. A perspective of this sort sees itself in opposition to others--to those studies focused on exploring the relations between the Jesuits' activities and an Iberian political culture whose hallmark was the conquistador; to the others overly centred on the Jesuits' activities at the imperial court at Peking that largely resulted in scientific forms of interaction; and even to the analyses focused exclusively on the Jesuits' intellectual and discursive products. (2)
Recognizing the importance of Dauril Alden's recent investigations into the economic bases upon which the Jesuits' built their endeavours, Brockey shows himself particularly sensitive to the new paths of research relative to the Jesuits' religious activities explored by Nicolas Standaert and his colleagues. (3) A comprehensive knowledge of the archives and documentation relative to the Society of Jesus which is available in Lisbon and Rome permits the author correctly to ground his thesis. Brockey's text is divided into three parts: a first section exploring the development of Jesuit activity in China during five distinct periods; a second dedicated to analyzing the academic, linguistic and spiritual formation of the missionaries, including the experience they gained during the sea passage to China; and a final section analyzing the Jesuits' work in the mission field, the conversions they claimed and, most importantly, the construction of a network of confraternities that functioned as a kind of lay devotional structure capable of optimizing the sphere of influence of a handful of Jesuits whose numbers never exceeded a paltry three dozen.
The importance of this work of reconstituting the religious dimension of the history of the Jesuits in China emerges as a return to the actors' point of view. Or better, an anthropological recuperation of their core value system. The results achieved should provoke a revision of the histories of the Jesuits elsewhere outside Europe: from Japan to the Philippines, from India to Mozambique, from Angola, Guinea or the Cape Verde islands to Brazil and Spanish America, and not least to Canada. Given the comparative potential suggested by this 'revisionist' thesis, it will be necessary to begin by discussing in detail some of the analyses proposed for the case of the Jesuit presence in China and verify if...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
