JESU/EDUC 7159 - History of the Jesuits
This three-credit, graduate-level online course offers an introductory survey to the Society of Jesus and its members. This course traces the development, expansion, suppression, restoration, and recent developments of the Society of Jesus by closely examining the historical contributions of significant Jesuits.
Course Summary
For nearly five centuries, the Society of Jesus has been one of the most successful and, at times, most controversial religious orders in the Catholic Church. A History of the Jesuits offers an introductory survey to this rich and varied past with particular attention, following the Jesuits’ suppression in 1773, to various enterprises and enterprisers in the Americas. The course seeks to answer these questions: What have been the characteristics of the Society of Jesus and its associated works? And how and why have those characteristics remained the same or changed? Complementing the other courses in the Certificate program, the course traces the development, expansion, suppression, restoration, and recent developments of the Society of Jesus by closely examining the historical contributions of significant Jesuits.
About the Instructor
Emanuele Colombo Ph.D.
Research Scholar at the Institute
Emanuele Colombo Ph.D., is Professor of Catholic Studies at DePaul University, Chicago. His research focuses on religious history in early modern Europe: theology and politics, Jesuit missions, and Christian-Muslim encounters in the Mediterranean. He has authored and edited several books and has published articles and book reviews in international journals. He was a 2018 fellow at the Institute. Currently, as Provost’s Fellow at Boston College and Research Scholar at the Institute, he works on the Digital Indipetae Database where letters written by Jesuits to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus to apply for the missions overseas can be accessed for scholarly research. Emanuele created the Jesuit Studies Café, informal online conversations hosted at the Institute, with the world's preeminent scholars working on the history, spirituality, and educational heritage of the Society of Jesus.