Jesuit Political Thought The Society of Jesus and the State, c.1540}}}1630 [Paperback]

Pioneering study of Jesuit thinking exploring the society's position on key questions of political thought.Despite the significance of the Society of Jesus in Counter-Reformation Europe and beyond, important issues relating to this society's collective history are little understood, leading to unfounded myths. How far did the Society of Jesus develop and maintain a distinctive position on key questions of political thought such as ruler authority, the character and scope of positive law, the limits of obedience and the right to resist? Harro Hopfl presents here the first full-length study of Jesuit thinking about the secular world, analysed in its proper historical context.Despite the significance of the Society of Jesus in Counter-Reformation Europe and beyond, important issues relating to this society's collective history are little understood, leading to unfounded myths. How far did the Society of Jesus develop and maintain a distinctive position on key questions of political thought such as ruler authority, the character and scope of positive law, the limits of obedience and the right to resist? Harro Hopfl presents here the first full-length study of Jesuit thinking about the secular world, analysed in its proper historical context.How did the Society of Jesus develop and maintain a distinctive position on key questions of political thought such as ruler authority, the character and scope of positive law, the limits of obedience and the right to resist? Harro Hopfl presents a full-length study of the secular world--analyzed in its proper historical context--from a Jesuit perspective. Despite the significance of the Society of Jesus in Counter-Reformation Europe and beyond, important issues relating to the society's collective history remain misunderstood.Introduction; 1. The character and work of the society of Jesus; 2. The society's organizational ideas; 3. The church, the society and heresy; 4. Jesuit reason of state and religious uniformity; 5. Jesuit realó