Customer Reviews

God's Soldiers: Adventure, Politics, Intrigue, and Power--A History of the Jesuits

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The history of the Society of Jesus is an extremely interesting and exciting one, as is perfectly clear after reading this extremely well writen book. Unfortunately, the book is much too short, and we get a very cursory history, with a lot of mentions of things that hapened, but no explanations as to what these things were. I wish that the author would have expanded his book more, so that there would have been more detail to it. One small example is the missionary activity of Francis Xavier: it's mentioned, but we don't really find out anything about it in the book. Perhaps this is just the author's way of getting us to read more deeply into the subject, but i don't know. I learned a lot about the Jesuits in this book, but I was left with the hunger for more detailed knowledge.

When i bought the book i thought i was going to discover at least a big part of the huge and extraordinary jesuit history. I was wrong. The book lacks too many names, countries, and facts related to the jesuit order. The author emphasises too much on certain people and ignores jesuit saints , politicians, and kings under the jesuit influence. I would also say that the authors sources are very , very scarce.

For the history buff, this glimpse into the world of the Jesuits and their role in educational institutions, missionary work and Catholicism, this book leaves something to be desired. While reading it I was completely enthralled but after each reading session felt like I had missed something. Was it the author's language, often very academic and intellectual or was it something else? I came away in the end thinking it was a combination of factors, one of which is the lack of detail to any number of events and the jumping around to different time periods and locations. It is almost like the author expects you to have knowledge of all the people and events he is talking about. There was not enough "color" to the events and people; they were all shaded in black and white academia. Was this enough to make the book uninteresting? No, by no means, actually I was really drawn into the material but it was just a little dry. With so many martyrs and bloodshed in the name of Christ surely the events could have been described with more attention to detail. There are times when he is describing the various events, like the acquisition and eventual selling of relics in very graphic terms; however, there is just not enough of this. At times the story is disjointed; something that fit a tight chronlogical order may have made it easier to read. By no means is this an easy book. You need to have your thinking cap on. The long history of the Jesuits is condensed but in the process the different "stories" within are somewhat lost in a blurr. To the author's credit he did an amazing job to even tackle such an esoteric subject within the confines of a three hundred page book. It is almost like there is too much information. His notations and extensive bibliography give credence to the fact that this book was well researched. The development and demise of the Jesuits as missionaries throughout the world is only one of many interesting aspects that Wright covers in the book. The Jesuits achievements are discussed as well and Wright does a good job of maintaining a neutral stance throughout the book , although, there are times that he seems to lean in their favor. This is a fascinating look into the Society of Jesus. Recommended for students of history or religion.

The history is fascinating - so many martyrs, so many enemies. The telling of that history, in this instance at least, is somewhat weighty. No doubt Mr. Wright is a very bright man and he does have a great appreciation of his subject matter but his literary style smacks of academia. Save for the sexy sub-heading -"Adventure, Politics, Intrigue, and Power" the book reads like a thesis. His use of vocabulary borders on the obscure - not a trait inherent in bestsellers. Which this book could have been. All of the ingredients are there - " Adventure, Politics, Intrigue, and Power". Dan Brown has demonstrated a public fascination with arcana (albeit in a predictable and simplistic fashion) and Eco proved that one can be literary without being pedantic.
All in all, I was disappointed but stuck with it to find out how it would end!

God's Soldiers by Jonathan Wright is a good overview of the subject, though not very memorable. His method is to go through a vast amount of individual histories, often very briefly, which makes for exhausting and sometimes confusing reading. For this reason I find it strange that some people have commented on the book as being "academic" in style. I'd rather describe it as a not very well executed popular history. Some crucial information is also missing; he for example states that Ignatian spirituality aroused suspicions in some Catholics, but neglects to tell why, or even describe what it was about.

That said, the problem is mostly in execution. The focus is on the period between the creation of the society and it's temporary dissolution, though later events are also covered. Wright seems to have a good command on his subject, and though he is mostly apologetic, disproving the widespread "anti-myth", he does not appear overtly biased. The picture that emerges from his writing is that of a global organisation based on innovative individuals who often had to make the best of difficult conditions. As this mode of operation proved to be more than succesful, they ran afoul with emerging national hierarchies unwilling to share their power over people. This would be their undoing.

For those interested in the subject, I would recommend God's Secret Agents by Alice Hogge. It has no special relationship to this book, but is more readable and describes the Jesuit activity in Elizabethian England in fascinating detail.

Yes, it is very brief, but it does pack a fascinating punch. Just when Wright gets to the meat of an interesting area he switches gears, from South America to India to Quebec to Rome. I guess you could say the book's pace mimmicks the Jesuit's agency. If you're curious about a few of the notable Jesuits mentioned than you should definately check out Ignatian Humanism: A Dynamic Spirituality for the 21st Century.

The book is difficut reading, all said and done, too much detail and a little disconnected. The humanity of the subject matter is missing in what is a scholarly exercise.

"God's Soldiers" by Jonathan Wright, ©2004

Christian soldiers march on. The Jesuits were the most devoted soldiers of the Catholic church two hundred years ago. It was most interesting to read about this 'new' Catholic order. I thought they were all a thousand years old, but this one is barely 500 years old. It has a rcord of independence of thought and action that has gotten it into trouble with the church beaucracy. It is also one of the orders that was on the forefront of evanglizing the Indians, Chinese and Japanese (remember, Marquette was a Jesuit priest).
I had to really not 'get involved' in the part of fighting over religious sects in Europe. It was so pointless to me: these were all people who were believing in Jesus, so they were all going to heaven anyway, why fight? In India or Mayalsia, I could understand it better, but still it seemed to be an odd thing to fight over, whether or not the people believed in the Catholic or Lutheran or whatever church.

Snarky, sarcastic, dismissive, condescending; I don't doubt that Wright has the qualifications to write this book, nor do I doubt that he's done the investigating. I just can't get past how poorly written it is. Maybe I just don't get his British sense of humour.

To me this is an important record of history. Yet, although it mentions many popes it fails to mention John Paul I - the closest to the Jesuit tradition - particularly as to his acceptance of the equality of women, bastards, homosexuals and the poor in the Church.. Take a look-see at Lucien Gregoire's PAUPER WHO WOULD BE POPE for the record of John Paul I.