JESU 7152 - Constitutions of the Society of Jesus
This three-credit, graduate-level online course explores the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus.
Course Summary
St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491鈥�1556) wrote constitutions鈥攁 large book consisting of rules, principles, and priorities鈥攖o govern, unify, and inspire the Society of Jesus as a worldwide corporate body of priests and laymen. Some Jesuit writers have suggested that the Constitutions, by regrettable necessity, is a dilution or 鈥渋nstitutionalization鈥� of the highly personal, dynamic relationship with God that Jesuits cultivate when making the month-long retreat known as the Spiritual Exercises. This course argues the opposite: that Ignatius鈥� two books comprise an organic unity, so that his spiritual teaching as found in the Exercises cannot be properly understood apart from the Constitutions.