Reviewed Book: Segundo, Juan Luis. The Christ of the Ignatian Exercises. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1987

Bosch, Paul

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 16Issue 1 Hermeneutics: Theory and Practice Article 175-1-1990The Christ of the Ignatian ExercisesPaul BoschFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationBosch, Paul (1990) "The Christ of the Ignatian Exercises," Consensus: Vol. 16 : Iss. 1 , Article 17.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol16/iss1/17124 Consensusseen from the results of his second and third volumes is whether he cansustain the thesis of continuity with the first generation of the Reformationand relevance for the present.Timothy R. CookeSt. Peter’s Anglican ChurchThe Christ of the Ignatian ExercisesJuan Luis SegundoMaryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1987The Christ of the Ignatian Exercises is Juan Luis Segundo’s fourthvolume in his series “Jesus of Nazareth Yesterday and Today”. Previousvolumes have included: Volume One Faith and Ideologies; Volume Two,The Historical Jesus of the Synoptics; and Volume Three, The HumanistChristology of Paul.Edited and translated from the Spanish by John Drury, the presentvolume finds its place in what will no doubt be, when it is complete, amajor theological opus by one of the century’s most articulate “liberation”theologians.It is not ecLsy going; the pages are theologically and syntactically denseand closely-reasoned; you will find yourself re-reading many a paragraph—or even page!—to follow and comprehend. But it is worth the struggle; Se-gundo makes a convincing case that Jesus of Nazareth belongs to the ages,in the words of Pelikan’s recent argument. More than that, he makes a con-vincing case that Jesus of Nazareth belongs to the revolution-impassionedatheist as much as to the committed baptized.And that is the accumulated force of the material Segundo presentshere; he is a kind of evangelist—he might not select that term for himself,but that is how he must be read—eager to present a winsome portrait ofthe Center of our faith in terms that are attractive and also credible to thecentury’s “cultured despisers”. Among these, not surprisingly, the thought-ful and committed revolutionary laboring for justice for the oppressed findsa special place in Segundo’s affections; one harbors the impression, in read-ing these pages, that their author feels a special sense of urgency in makingJesus both credible and attractive to a non-Christian audience thought-fully and passionately committed to social justice. “Blessed are those whohunger and thirst for righteousness. . ..”Segundo organizes his material into seven chapters, with an introduc-tion and an appendix, and fully twenty pages of endnotes. The Introduc-tion sketches out the parameters of his project: “Christologies in ChristianSpiritualities”. Chapter One is entitled “Jesus and God: Approach toBook Reviews 125the Council of Chalcedon”. Chapter Two takes up “Christological Vac-uum? Praising, Reverencing and Serving God”. Chapter Three continuesthe thrust of Chapter Two: “Christological Vacuum? Making OurselvesIndifferent”; Chapter Four “The Christology Underlying the Imitation ofChrist”; Chapter Five: “Demythologization and Discernment of Spirits”;Chapter Six: “King—Kingdom—Reign”; Chapter Seven: “Conclusions:The Tensions of a Christology” ; and finally the Appendix: “A ChristologyEnters History”.In his Introduction, Segundo makes it clear that “it is impossible forus to establish a science or discipline whose product would be one, single‘christology’: i.e., a tract bringing together all our knowledge-data aboutJesus... ” (1). His aim, rather, is “to rescue the question of Jesus’ signif-icance for human existence from the discipline that hzis expropriated thetcLsk of interpreting Jesus for many centuries” (11), namely, theology. Inother words, here is a christology without a theology; the Second Article ofthe creed, so to speak, de-mythologized and stripped of associations withFirst Article and Third Article.One finds oneself fascinated by what Segundo does not take up, namely,the relationship between christology and theology, on the one hand, andpneumatology on the other. But the author is quite steadfast in his deter-mination to present only a christology, in the conviction that to ask—andanswer—questions about God first, and only then to turn to questionsabout Jesus, is to work backwards: “I want to show that this way of his[Jesus], in translated form, can even today interest and humanize peoplewho... claim they do not believe in God... ”(I2). Since Segundo has al-ready published a comprehensive theology in the five volume A Theologyfor Artisans of a New Humanity (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1973-1974), it wouldbe interesting to see how his current thinking on the “order” of the threearticles might change his presentation of a theological system.In pursuing his argument, Jesuit Segundo is throughout respectful, butat the same time deeply critical, of Ignatius. Segundo finds all theologiansand “christologians”,himself included, to be prisoners of their own times,captive to the thought-forms and the presuppositions of the era in whichthey live; so also he finds Ignatius a captive to his age. Ignatius’ concept of“indifference”, not surprisingly, is perceived to be at odds with Segundo’sown passionate commitment to his world; Ignatius’ thought is “from thetop down”, rather than “from the bottom up”, and Segundo finds this lessthan helpful in his own aissignment of making Jesus and “the Jesus project”credible and attractive to the “cultured despisers”.In sum, the volume is a helpful overview of some of the major themes of“liberation theology”,as they impinge on the area of spirituality, seen fromthe perspective of one of its most articulate partisans. One looks forward126 Consensusto the translation of the fifth volume of the series, The Evolutionary Ap-proach to Jesus of Nazareth.Until then, this book will give you plenty to chew on!Paul F. BoschWaterloo Lutheran SeminaryThrough The Loneliness: A Woman’s Spiritual Jour-nalAntonia J. van den BeldNew York: Paulist Press, 1987140 pp.This is a captivating and challenging journal which records the humanand spiritual dynamics and dimensions of a “second” journey thrust upona woman in her middle years. The diary, covering a span of time from1980 through into 1983, is deeply experiential and profoundly reflective insubstance and in style. The author raises searching questions like: “Why,for heaven’s sake, did God complicate people’s life the way it seems to havedone?... the reality that we can be ‘touched’, that we can ‘respond’, andthat, when we do, we live a life which is not our own. . . What does it meanto believe in God’s grace?... How can it be that I experience myself asa religious person and at the same time have such little faith?. . . Are wecapable of truly caring for other people?”God, God’s grace, the tension between God’s unconditional love and thedrama of our human possibilities for love form the centrepiece of this story.The author is constantly wrestling with a myriad of emotions and feelingsstirred up by many relationships. There’s wonderment, guilt, anger, fear,frustration—and above all a deep feeling of loneliness as she feels her lifetaken in new directions. As these new directions unfold, she wants verymuch to believe that God’s love is unconditional and yet she is in a deepinner battle with all that. She is really wondering whether it is possibleto experience God’s unconditional love within the human condition andwithin human relationships. Her experience seems to suggest to her thevery opposite. Hence, deep-seated feelings of loneliness. She is repeatedlyquestioning herself about sin, personal responsibility and the values whichmight guide her on life’s journey.This is a profoundly personal testimony and a deeply spiritual witness.In reading the entries, I was vividly reminded of some of the struggleswhich Martin Luther went through in searching for a gracious God. Itis a provocatively devotional piece of literature. Being written both in anarrative style and in a reflective mode, the material draws the reader into

The Christ of the Ignatian Exercises

Scholars Commons

https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1970&amp;context=consensus

The Christ of the Ignatian Exercises

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Wilfrid Laurier University

Scholars Commons