Jesus

Gnostic’s beliefs were so radical the church tried to eradicate any trace of them. They believed that god did not intend to create the physical universe because he would not create a place with imperfections, suffering and hurt. They believe god’s divine essence came out of him to fill existence.

The essence mutated to form aeons, which were beings less than god and imperfect, but still had some of his divine powers. They lived together in the spiritual realm of pleroma. One aeon, named sophia, went out to find knowledge and wisdom. She tried to be like god and create a being, but since she wasn’t as powerful, the being was flawed and evil.

His name was demiurge, and in his flaws, thought he was the supreme god, then he created this physical universe corrupted by his own evil. So we as his creations are also flawed. This explains why there is pain in the world when god is pure and good.

Dualism

While humans are flawed, they still have enough of the divine spark to recognise the difference between good and evil. Demiurge and his slaves the archons know that most people are unaware of the spark. If they knew, they could be freed from the pain and suffering of demiurge’s universe.

To escape his universe, humans must realize their divine spark, and nurture it during a process called gnosis. People like jesus christ, the prophet mani, and seth, the third child of adam and eve were considered messengers of light who would come to earth to help people awaken their sparks. Some people are so far gone from the spark that it’s lost on them. These people are some of the most evil in history.

Since the early church couldn’t fit these ideas in with the old testament or apostolistic writings, they were rejected.
Gnostics believed the material world was corrupt. Some took this to mean the body is also corrupt, so they could freely indulge in fleshly desires. The majority however, strictly disciplined themselves to avoid all fleshly desires.

This created internal conflict about how how jesus christ could be the physical embodiment of god. Some gnostics thought christ only looked like a physical form. Others believed jesus was a real man and that the christ spirit entered and left the jesus body. As for the resurrection, they cannot come to a united consensus about that either. Some say the spirit abandoned jesus to die on the cross alone, others say someone took jesus’ place and died for him. The general idea was that the crucifixion was a spiritual event, and made up their own details about it at their leisure.

Parts of gnostic ideas existed before the early church was established. Its thought that other gnostic manuscripts were directly reactionary of writings and oral teachings of orthodox history based christianity. This is mostly due to the fact that at the time, spreading the intended information was difficult. Some of the apostolistic writings didn’t reach everywhere, and other writings that were left out of the new testament were accepted instead.

Valentinus was the founder of gnostic christianity. He knew that unless he presented himself to have received instructions from the apostle Paul that he would be ignored by early churchgoers. Him and others like him are thought to be the “wolves in sheeps clothing” Paul and other apostles warn about. His writings come from 2nd century AD or later. Almost all of the books in the new testament were written by then, and several gnostic texts allude to them. To stave off the influence of his false teachings, late 2nd century orthodox leaders were motivated to write more books disproving him.

Early church leaders discredited gnostic teachings because they did not align with the original old testament and apostle teachings and because they were written over a hundred years after the original texts, were more likely to contain misinformation. Orthodox leaders feared that gnostic leaders were trying to deceive the disciples by claiming that knowledge could make them more like god.

“The three main results of the battle with Gnosticism were an increased emphasis on apostolic succession, the tightening of the church hierarchy and the definition of the Scriptural canon. One way to counter the inventions of the Gnostics was to show that as a church leader you had the truth because you had been trained and commissioned by a man who was trained and commissioned by a man who had been trained and commissioned by an apostle who had been trained and commissioned by Christ: thus the church developed the idea of apostolic succession.”

Gnosticism has been so widely rejected because early christians held very strongly to their beliefs. Theirs was and still is a religion back by years of written accounts, and proof for them to hold on to, as opposed to gnostics, whose religion is loosely based on the old testament and altered on a whim.

Works cited

1. “Gnosticism: Beliefs & Symbols | Study.Com”. Study.Com, 2018, https://study.com/academy/lesson/gnosticism-beliefs-symbols.html. Accessed 24 Apr 2018.
2. Graves, Dan. “Gnosticism”. Christianity.Com, 2018, https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1-300/gnosticism-11629621.html. Accessed 24 Apr 2018.

I believe animals should be kept in the zoo because it it helps protect our species from being endangered. It also provides the Public education on all the animals, helps endangered species by breeding the animals and animals are mostly born in the zoo not knowing what it is like to live in the wild. Zoos are vital for education. It helps people view beautiful animals that they would never see if they were in the wild.Therefore, it teaches us the threats which hopefully can in courage the public to respect and protect the animals.

The money the zoo brings is used for food, care, and breeding programs. Many of the animals in the zoos are captive-breed. The animals have not been taken from the wild and locked up in cages. They were born in captivity and no nothing else other than life in the zoo. They do not miss the wild, since they have no idea such a thing exist and seem to be very happy in the zoo.If animals in the zoo where unhappy they would not have such a breeding success (unhappy or unhealthy do not breed). They are better off in captivity, since they do not have to deal with the dangers of the wild, disease, injurys, predators, or starvation.

Its true, that captive conditions in the past were crule. They were kept in crammed cages. This could still be the case in some countries. However in most countries, zoos are carefully watched.The animals are kept in good conditions and as close as possiable to their natural habitant, with lots of space, good diets and good medical care. The animals have things to play with, if they are playful animals. Therefore are helped to solve problems to get there food, rather then it just being found on the floor for them to eat.

Ther are many reasons that I think animals should be kept in a zoo. Saftey , education, helping the endagered species, and breeding are all reasons we should keep animals in the zoo.

This painting consists of Squares, Rectangles and lot of implied lines. With everyone looking and/or pointing at Jesus it gives an implied line that the eye follows through the painting and keeps the focus on him. The color of the clothing gives the feel of harmony and unity.With Jesus being slightly larger than the rest it keeps him as the focal point, His position with his hands out and the accepting look on his face compared to the others which are standing and have outraged looks, Jesus’ look of acceptance could be interpreted as a sign that he understands what is to come and knows that one day his body must be divided, the broken bread, and that his blood must flow, the red wine. The light above Jesus looks like a halo which gives him the look of righteousness or holiness, almost untouchable. Everyone is gathered at the table in preparation for Jesus’ last supper here on earth before moving on.

Jesus makes the statement that someone will betray him so everyone is outraged since he didn’t say who it was. Therefore there is a deep sense of betrayal and sadness, betrayal of Jesus by Judas, in the picture Judas is hidden in the shadows and seems to be clutching a small bag, and sadness because Peter will deny him 3 times. There is also the sense of good and evil in the fact that the left side of the painting is dark and the right side is brighter. The dark left and the bright right is a symbol of those one right are favored and on the left are those that have lost favor in his sight.Mary (there are many question as to if this is John or Mary but many seem to think it is Mary because the figure looks very feminine) being on the left side of him, when women never ate with men, is a sign of disrespect and the seeing as how peter has his hand around her neck reinforces that. Even peter being on the left side show that it is the side that has lost favor with Jesus, Peter has a knife behind is back a sign of betrayal or backstabbing. Jesus has a very stable triangular form while the rest flow almost in a chaotic way.

There are a lot of icons in this painting; everything that Leonardo drew had a meaning behind it from the leaven bread to the halo above Jesus. In the bible they had unleavened bread, and there was no fish just wine and bread. The fish could symbol all the miracles that he preformed during his life. Jesus and his disciples are seating in chairs instead of reclining like what they have done during the Passover. Jesus was crucified on what we would call Friday. So this meal was a day to early for it to be the Passover and the Passover is in the evening and judging by the background scene it is early day time.The item at the bottom turns out to be a door that someone decided that that was the only place for it to be put.

The lighting at the bottom was put there to make the room itself seem bigger, Leonardo did this on purpose. Everything he did was on purpose. There are many interpretations to some of the icons in this painting but all of them come back to a religious meaning.Work Cited: Dax, Jay, “The Last Supper- A study of the painting by Leonardo De Vinci”,://www. jaydax. co. uk/lastsupper/lastsupper.

htm. 2006. 20 sept. 2010

In our contemporary cultural and ecclesial milieu, commitment appears to be given little or less importance. This is commonly visible around us in the broken promises, divorce from marriages or early departures from priestly and religious life, wounded relationships, wasted potentialities, lack of direction. As a result, so many people today tend to experience a general sense of being unfulfilled.

It is clear that these problems both foster and are a result of a real failure to engage oneself in a lifelong commitment. Many young people today are reluctant to make commitments for fear that commitment might lead to their loss of freedom. Such people believe that lifelong commitments by definition restrict one’s freedom. In fact, people who do not want to commit to anything, do so because they do not want to sacrifice anything.

In a vocational context, commitment ultimately involves a call, a choice, a promise (Sammon, 2004), sacrifice and renunciation. It is the surrender of oneself in faith, hope and love to God. Commitment to discipleship demands the immediate and unconditional response of turning aside to a life that is new. This is evident in the lives of those called by Jesus; they were called to live as new creatures, sacrifice their very selves, abandon their means of livelihood and sever their family ties (cf. Mk 10:21).

As Upton (2011) asserted the formation house should be full of men who are willing not just to ‘discern’ but to ‘commit,’ not because they have pieced together some vocational puzzle, but because they want to be genuine disciples and missionaries of Christ. The different stages of formation are important times of preparation into lifelong commitment for the candidates, and of discernment for the formators. The Congregation for Catholic Education 2008 believes this time is especially important for spiritual and human formation. It should “nurture a greater self-awareness for personal growth,” and foster a “solid human” formation in addition to spiritual development (nos. 59-60).

In Christian literature, the word ‘discernment’ can be used to describe a faith process of determining the will of God in a situation or indeed for one’s life. It is a process which involves decision making and also carries elements of spirituality. According to the insights of St. Ignatius of Loyola, ”discernment is the discovery of one’s greatest hope for happiness and peace within one’s providential life setting” (Burke-Sullivan, 2004, p. 10).

This hope is grounded in the discovery of God’s desire for each person and in the liberating power of God’s spirit. Jackson (2009, p. 307) points out that discernment is a faith rooted experience which consists in ”discovering God’s direction and guidance in the concrete reality of our day-to-day lives.” In large part, discernment describes ”the interior search for an answer to the question of one’s vocation, namely, determining whether or not God is calling one to the married life, single life, consecrated life, ordained ministry or any other calling” (Ezeani 2016, p. 277).

Indeed, vocational discernment involves making an informed decision enlightened by faith and reason. We might say that since we can never possess empirical certitude in matters of faith, our vocation discernment could retain an element of darkness. Ultimately, the discerner is moved not only by faith but also led by God’s spirit to overcome the forces of evil that operate within human experience by means of fear, seeking to blind, deafen and defeat our capacity to choose. The use of reason reaching into the darkness of faith determines the validity of the discernment.

Spiritual accompaniment remains a great help in providing sound formation and facilitating vocation discernment. The task of the accompanier is to facilitate a free and conscious response to the divine action in the life of the formee, to guide him to embrace single-mindedly the celibate life and to live it in a meaningful and joyful manner.

Without a doubt, all effort at priestly and religious formation seek to help the formees to more clearly and confidently answer God’s call (Vechtel, 2006). In this regard, apart from one-on-one interaction with the formees, other means such as workshops, vocational growth sessions, personal reflection tools, meditation, etc., could be helpful in facilitating discernment and fostering growth in human maturity. Catholic spirituality has proposed various models or characteristics involved in proper discernment.

Jackson (2004) advises an approach to discernment which requires for the discerner to have the ability to reflect on the ordinary events of one’s life, the ability to reflect what one experiences, a habit of daily prayer, self-knowledge which includes knowledge of one’s deepest desires, and openness to God’s will. He affirms that discernment begins with a prayer for enlightenment and proceeds through a repetitive process of evaluation, prayer, clarification leading to an informed decision.

Bertrand (2001) and Gallagher (2007) described similar processes of general spiritual discernment, which are also applicable to vocation discernment. Bertrand (2001) relied on the spiritual wisdom passed down through the teachings of St. Bernard. Gallagher (2007) wrote of spiritual discernment using the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises. According to both theologians, candidates should be able to determine whether an inspiration is coming from God, from self, from an evil spirit, or from another source (Bertrand, 2001; Gallagher, 2007).

Using the Ignatian method of discernment, a formee evaluates his feelings in regards to each option to learn from where the thought or feeling originates (Bertrand, 2001; Gallagher, 2007). According to the Ignatian method, feelings of sadness and happiness, also called desolations and consolations respectively, give valuable information to the formee regarding from where the thought or inspiration originates (Gallagher, 2007). Consolation occurs when people are engaged in integrating thoughts and feelings into the specifically spiritual relation they have with God.

In desolation, people are inconsistent in their choices, fixed in their self-image, secretive, bear the mark of guilt and regret and painfully vulnerable in one obvious aspect or another. To simplify Ignatian method, one must eventually determine whether the choice he or she considers leads to fleeting happiness or long-lasting happiness (Bertrand, 2001). Based on the belief that God’s will leads to true and eternal happiness, one can determine whether or not a particular inspiration comes from God and thus whether or not a particular path or vocation should be chosen (Bertrand, 2001).

Ignatius explores the experiences of consolation and desolation as a means of assessing and facilitating discernment and spiritual growth. Vechtel (2006, p. 132) argues that for Ignatius, ”the way of discipleship meant looking at the brokenness of one’s biography and the ambivalence of one’s motives and actions. One’s personal convictions and ideas about life had to be measured by gospel values.”

In February 2009, while addressing the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI stated that the important discernment in formation ”happens on the part of formators” (Upton 2011, p.71). The onus lies on formators to create an enabling atmosphere in which candidates can freely and confidently engage in the discernment process. Generally, a formee does not receive a direct confirmation of his call from God, nor should he expect to receive such a confirmation. Although the Church maintains the possibility of a miraculous vocation like the call of St. Paul on the road to Damascus, but it is rare to experience this kind of vocational calling today.

We are no longer in the time of Prophets that God would speak to directly, nor in the time of Jesus who chose ‘whom he wanted.’ The formator, spiritual director and counsellor are important facilitators in vocation discernment. Jesus himself in a special way accompanied his disciples, the sinners, Zacheus, the Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, Nicodemus, the disciples of Emmaus, those suffering from diseases and bondage. The approach of Jesus could serve as a model for formators in facilitating vocation discernment and accompaniment.

While emphasizing the importance of personal accompaniment in facilitating vocation discernment, Nugent (2000) refers to structured meetings with the Spiritual Director who can act as guide and model of sexual integration, as well as with the formator “with whom students are expected to articulate their understanding of celibate chastity and their readiness for such a commitment” (2000, p.75).

The spiritual accompanier can facilitate vocation discernment by enabling fuller insight into the personal motivations of the formee, helping him to develop various aptitudes for community living, including the capacity for healthy solitude and fostering healthy psychosexual integration. Formators can facilitate the healthy integration of the two drives of spirituality and sexuality. As Ezeani (2011) noted ”sexual integration embraces, and is inclusive of spiritual integration.”

Furthermore, the accompanier plays a decisive role at the level of the soundness of motivations and often at the level of certain abilities, particularly concerning the ability to live the evangelical counsels. According to researchers (De Souza 2007), often the motivation to priestly or religious life is not strongly founded on any previous experience of God, but is influenced by ambition for upward social mobility, careerism, social security and so forth. Because of this, in some cases, the accompanier may ask a candidate to consider discontinuing his formation.

Indeed, in the process of discernment, some young people may find that their psychological makeup simply is not suited to the personal demands of priestly and religious commitments. A priest’s days are filled with hospital visits, marriages, funerals, baptisms, and with the lives of hundreds perhaps thousands of people under his pastoral care.

Those candidates who come from severely traumatic childhood experiences may find such a life to be excessively difficult, if not impossible. Indeed, the formee must show the capacity to carry out the vocational project. Does he possess the natural predispositions, inner capacities, and ego strengths, which will help him to realize the proclaimed ideals? In the following section, we propose some elements that can foster personal growth and improve the vocational commitment of the formee.

2/16/09 The Shack: A Discussion of Symbolism The Shack, written by William P. Young, tackles one man’s quest for faith and reassurance in God through several metaphors, parables and symbols. These symbols are used to compare the story religion itself; and from this comparison it is easier to grasp a deeper understanding. However, with this underlying symbolism, it’s possible to over analyze and disregard the fictitious nature of the book. Despite this, there are many symbols within The Shack that are essential to the story and the deeper significance within it.

Symbols are used within The Shack to really enunciate the relationship transition that Mack experiences while visiting the shack and the new found relationship that he develops within the Trinity. Symbolism within The Shack is found almost everywhere, with symbolism it is possible to understand God through the analogies expressed. These analogies range from simple to complex and have many dimensions; the symbol itself and the reality it exposes. There are many different symbols hidden within the shack, some are obvious and some are vaguer.

One of the more obvious pieces of symbolism would be the story of the Indian Princess that Mack tells Missy. (Young, 30-31) The story is a clear representation of the death of Jesus Christ. Missy is unnerved by the death of the Indian Princess and Jesus and raises the essential question, as to why God is so mean? (31) Mack answers the question the best he can but it still unnerves him. He says that Jesus didn’t have to die, he chose to. He then tells Missy that God will never ask us to do something like that, as Jesus already covered it. He’s shaken though by the depth of his young daughter’s question.

However, not quite as shaken as he will be in the days ahead as he wonders the same thing himself. In the coming days ahead When Missy is abducted, Mack will think back to this, thus, creating distrust in God for Mack. Now that Mack has developed a type of disbelieve in God, he becomes immersed in another piece of symbolism that he has taken to calling “the Great Sadness”. …he [Mack] allowed himself to consider the range of horrendous possibilities, and once it started he couldn’t stop; the imaginations of good and evil all mixed up together in a soundless but terrifying parade. 53) This “Great Sadness” seems to be a lot like depression but there are some things here that seem to even go beyond such a simple definition. It appears to more than physical, more than psychological; it’s almost a spiritual type of thing that hits to the very core of his being to where his entire world is impacted by its presence. It haunts his dreams, and leaves him in a state of almost perpetual fatigue and anguish. It can be argued that this state was brought on solely because of his daughter’s disappearance; however that may just be one of the factors contributing to the “Great Sadness”.

Mack’s “Great Sadness” seems to come more from his loss of faith because of the loss of his daughters which could imply that both of these are the causes of his grief induced state. Whether it’s depression, or something else, Mack has a condition in which pain becomes so overwhelming that there are few options other than suppressing the pain, which is what Mack chooses to do. One of the contributing sources to Mack’s great sadness is the loss of his daughter, Missy. Missy can also be viewed as yet another symbol within The Shack.

She is innocent and unassuming; therefore she can be regarded as somewhat of an inner child or symbol of youthful innocence. And now Mack could clearly see the voice that had called his Missy. It was Jesus playing in the middle of his children. (168) However, with her disappearance she brings despair and sadness to her family, therefore she is also representative of great pain and loss. Missy, can also be compared to Jesus. She was innocent, but ended up dying for no reason.

Although her death was tragic and hurt her family, Mack manages to gain a new relationship with God from it. Much like Jesus, who died unjustly, but ended up saving humanity, Missy in a way saves her father. Another symbol found several times throughout the story would be the lady bug. Before the family leaves to go on a camping trip, Missy asks her mother and her father if she can bring her insects with her. Her father says yes, while her mother says no, because they will be safer at home. This is symbolic because it turns out that Missy would have been safer at home too.

Perhaps the most noted symbols in the entire story would be the physical human representations of the Trinity. God is represented by a large African American woman; however this is just the form that God chose to spoke to Mack through, because “Papa” (God) says that God is neither male nor female. (93) Jesus is portrayed as a clumsy Jewish man. While the Holy Spirit is an Asian woman, who behaves rather strangely and flits in and out of Mack’s vision and can appear in more than one place at once, (128) these are all metaphorical representations of the manifestation of the Trinity.

Mack in his first meeting with God following his cathartic regeneration of unloading his anger and rage sees God in a quite different manner than he expected, which is why God is portrayed this specific way. This materialization of God in this form is important because this isn’t a literal assembly with God. This is a parable or metaphor that represents Mack’s introduction to a God that isn’t the remote, presentiment, ominous, hypercritical figure that Mack has believed him to be, until now.

To reveal myself to you as a very large, white grandfather figure with flowing beard, like Gandalf, would simply reinforce your religious stereotypes, and this weekend is not about reinforcing your religious stereotypes. (93) God or Papa in The Shack isn’t revealing himself in all of his splendor and sanctity for a specific reason. This is because the general rationale of this weekend in the shack is focused upon constructing a relationship with God. Through this, Mack discovers the idea that God’s love extends so much that God has chosen to reveal himself in a manner that Mack can relate to and identify with.

God also wishes for Mack’s religious stereotypes to be abolished, so he can be closer with God. Mack’s religious stereotype of God in his head is similar to Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, like a sort of grandfatherly figure with a long white flowing beard. (73) So, Mack is shaken immensely when God appears to him in the way that he does, in order to try to bring himself down to Mack’s level. Through the symbolism in this story dealing with the trinity, Mack begins to start the road to restoration nd healing. The whole meeting in the shack is symbolic in itself because it is possible that it did not even occur in reality. Mack discovers that his accident was on Friday night, and also when he wakes up wakes up in the shack and it is cold (237) and also he appears to be in the same spot on the floor where he fell asleep (79) near the old blood stain. This leads to the conclusion that the manifestation of the trinity, may have occurred just not as a part of reality, more as in a visionary meeting.

These events are seemingly real as Mack experiences them and he is able to grasp that there is a truth being represented here through this weekend at the shack and from that he reaches the truth about his relationship with God. Even though it is possible to conclude that the actual meeting did not occur, there is a reality here in the truth of the concepts and life changes that occur because of this meeting. The purpose of this metaphorical vision was to save Mack, so he could forgive and mend his relationship with God. Parables, symbols and metaphors are all essential elements in The Shack.

They help to intertwine the pieces of the story together and allow for greater significance. Although some of the symbolism is blatant and quite obvious; there are other pieces of symbolism that are vaguer and harder to pick out. The Shack is a story about, healing and forgiveness, and within the tale of anguish and spiritual redemption there are symbols that act as signposts helping to lead Mack to conclusion and build a stronger relationship with the Trinity. Works Cited Young, William P. The Shack. Newbury Park, CA, 2007

Abstract

The Jesuits arrived in India in 1542 A. D. to carry out Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Over the last 500 years, they have woven themselves into the very fabric of India with deep psychological, theological and sociological connotations. This article tells that story; highlights some noteworthy Jesuit influences on Modern India, particularly in the fields of education, medicine, social service and leadership training amongst the youth; and, draws leadership lessons from these Jesuit achievements.

The Jesuits demonstrated servant leadership, transformational leadership, and transactional leadership qualities. Without the Jesuits, the article concludes, India would be a different country. The Jesuit Legacy in India Ad majorem Dei gloriam. For the greater glory of God. That’s the motto of a religious order of men called the Society of Jesus that has quietly influenced India, and provided understated leadership to the world’s largest democracy in many positive ways deserving of recognition.

The influence of the Jesuits in India extends beyond just the spread of Christianity, weaving intricate psychological, theological and sociological patterns into the very fabric of modern Indian society. Professor George Menachery – appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as member of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great in early 2008, and editor of the St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India and the Indian Church History Classics – writes in Volume III of the former publication: the “factor which has won the Society a lasting place in the minds of the people and in the history of the nation is the large number of spheres which it has penetrated and permeated,” and goes on to list religion, spirituality, politics, education, science, technology, meteorology, diplomacy, indology, culture, history, geography, language, literature, art, architecture, sports, medicine, healthcare, social reforms, leadership formation, tribal and aboriginal movements, and nation-building as some of the contributions of the Jesuits to modern India. Brief History The organization was founded in 1534 by St. Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556), and received papal authorization in 1540 under Pope Paul III. Amongst the original six members was St. Francis Xavier, who was an ardent missionary with the passion to take Christ’s message to the East. He arrived in India in 1542, almost fifteen centuries after St. Thomas the Apostle had brought Christianity to India.

With the arrival of Xavier, began a saga of leadership by the Society of Jesus in India that continues to this day, almost 500 years later. Pre-British India The expanding influence on the Jesuits on 17th century pre-British India has been well documented by historians, among them Ellison Banks Findly, who writes in Nur Jahan, Empress of Mughal India (Oxford University Press) that Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1569-1627) granted the Jesuits many privileges, and spent “every night for one year… in hearing disputation” amongst Christian and other theologians, and that his “most active interest in Christian doctrine was in the debates held at his court between the Jesuit fathers and the Muslim mullahs. In fact, the Jesuit Mission of the Great Moghul was started at the request of Emperor Akbar, with Father Rudolph Acquaviva, the future Martyr, as its first Superior.

The Jesuit Mission in Madura in the south was also begun at the request of the Hindu viceroy (nayakka) established in Madura and later supported by Zulfikar Ali Khan (1690-1703), the first Nawab of the Carnatic. The Madura Mission counted among its members the celebrated Father Robert de Nobili, as well as Saint John de Britto. British India With the onset of British rule over India that effectively began in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, the Jesuits found greater favor with the erstwhile powers. They began exerting increasing influence not only on the Christians in India but also on the society at large.

Even the Maharajas – whom the British allowed to reign as long as they paid their due taxes to the Crown – and their war councils and civil administrations, were positively influenced by the Jesuits, right from Goa to Cochin to Cape Comorin to Manapad to Mannar to Mylapore. Independent India By the time the British Empire was overthrown and independent India emerged in 1947, the Jesuits had entrenched themselves deeply into Indian society by way of leading and high-profile educational institutions, hospitals, charity organizations and other enterprises that became effective partners of the government in the young democracy in supporting growth.

Professor George Menachery writes in The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India (Vol. III 2010): “the ubiquitous nature of the Society has through its varied missions become one of the most powerful influences in Indian history. Today there is hardly any Catholic ecclesiastical division in India or any revenue district in the country for that matter which does not boast some Jesuit enterprise or other, be it a school or a college, a technical training institute or an engineering establishment, a printing press or an infirmary, a seminary or a social service center.

The Jesuit movement gathered force right in the middle of the Catholic revival called the Counter-Reformation that began with the Council of Trent (1545-1563) as a response to the Protestant Reformation, and ended with the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. Pope Paul III (1534–1549) led the Council of Trent, and tasked the attending cardinals with institutional reform to impact ecclesiastical (or structural) reconfiguration, religious orders, spiritual movements, and political dimensions of the Catholic Church. New religious orders – such as the Jesuits, Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines, Discalced Carmelites, and the Barnabites – were a fundamental part of this movement, and Jesuits in particular, greatly bolstered rural parishes, enhanced popular piety, succeeded in constraining corruption within the church, and played an exemplary role in overall Catholic renewal.

These activities extended well into India. The Jesuit charter established by St. Ignatius Loyola was dictatorial and military-like (possibly emanating from the fact that Ignatius was a soldier before he became a priest); and, this iron discipline, rigid training and resolute character of the Jesuits created a deep psychological impact on the Indian psyche. Rev. Fr. Jerome Francis, a current Jesuit missionary in the Calcutta Province, opines that this perception of extreme discipline sat well with the general Indian populace and the rulers, and consequently boded well for the next phase of Jesuit growth in the country. Helped prevent Mysticism amongst Indian Christians

An example of rigid and inflexible discipline can be discerned in regulations such as Rule-13 of the Jesuit Charter that said: “I will believe that the white that I see is black if the hierarchical Church so defines it” (Jesuit Political Thought: The Society of Jesus and the State by Harro Hopfl, Cambridge University Press, 2004). Ursula King writes in Christian Mystics: The Spiritual Heart of the Christian Tradition (Simon & Schuster, 1998) that such rigid principles helped prevent the spread of mysticism amongst Christians in India, even while mysticism ran high in parts of Europe during the Catholic revival, with leaders like Teresa of Avila (1515-82) and John of the Cross (1542-91). The spread of mysticism made the institutional Church especially nervous because carried to its logical conclusion, mysticism negates the need for the priesthood and the sacraments.

Since one of the central tenets of Hinduism is a formless God (“Thou art formless; thy only form is our knowledge of thee” – Upanishads), Christians exposed to Hindu thought were especially prone mysticism, as has been proven over and over again by later-day Christian mystics like Father Bede Griffiths (1906-1993) and Henry le Saux (1910-1973). Closer psychological integration with Hindu society The Jesuits also introduced to India the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius, which was endorsed by Pope Paul III in 1548, and exemplified the Society of Jesus in the way these exercises helped the Jesuits understand human relationship with God, and live a life of commitment to Christ. The Exercises were a set of meditations, prayers and mental exercises designed to be carried out typically over a four week period, aimed at helping individuals discern Jesus in their lives and commit to a life of service to Christ.

This rigid Jesuit tradition has been compared with devotionalism, and provided close parallels to Hindu ritualistic traditions, and helped psychologically in the closer integration of the Jesuits into Hindu society. Theological Influence Setting up of Seminaries Jesuits believed in establishing seminaries for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the Church. Consequently, they set up several seminaries in India to dispense theological knowledge. Styled after the successful seminary of the Malankara Orthodox Church that was founded by St. Thomas, the Apostle in A. D. 52, and the Rachol Seminary founded in 1521 by the Church of Goa, the earliest Jesuit seminary was the St.

Joseph’s Inter-diocesan Seminary, Mangalore established in 1763; followed by St. Joseph’s Seminary started in West Bengal in 1879; and, the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier founded in 1887 in Pilar. Today there are at least 22 Jesuit seminaries, many of them degree granting institutions authorized by the Vatican and the government of India. The foremost example of Jesuit theological excellence is the Vidyajyoti College of Theology in Delhi that currently enrolls hundreds of students coming from some 70 religious congregations, dioceses, secular institutes and lay associations from every part of India and abroad. Setting up of Churches

One of the earliest Jesuit churches was established by St. Francis Xavier himself in Tuticorin. Originally called the Jesuit Church of Saint Paul, its status was raised to that of a Basilica by Pope Paul II to mark its 400th anniversary, and is now known as the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows, Tuticorin. St. Paul’s Churchaty in Diu on the west coast of India dates back to 1610. In all, there are over 110 Jesuit Churches in India, and these churches have always integrated well with Indian society in general, and with people from other faiths, in particular. To cite one example of this integration: During midnight mass on Christmas Eve in St. Paul’s Cathedral in Calcutta, the rush of Hindus is so heavy that the Church installs a loudspeaker system in the large gardens surrounding the Church, so that hundreds of Hindus who could not gain entry into the Cathedral, can sit and listen to the rituals. Evangelism Jesus commanded his eleven disciples to: “… go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. ” – Matthew 28:19,20 NIV. The Jesuits had evangelism as one of their stated goals, and their efforts first spread Christianity along the western “Konkan” coast of India. The Jesuits then spread both southwards (towards Madura) and northwards (towards Agra), continually converting Hindus and Muslims to Christianity. Rev. H. Hosten, S. J. writes in Jesuit Missionaries in Northern India and Inscriptions on their Tombs (1580-1803): “Under (Mughal Emperor) Jahangir… several Mohamedan Princes were baptized”, among them “Currown, another of Jahangir’s sons, and other of his friends (to make his way easier to the Crown) prevailed with Jahangir that his kinsmen Shaw Selym’s Brother’s Sons might be Christened; which accordingly was done in Agra… that year they also baptized another Grandson of Akbar’s. ” Until the Protestant Missionaries came to India in the 18th century, the Jesuits were the prime force of evangelism in India. Typical and often quoted, but not unique, proactive initiative to reach out to the Indian masses is practiced today by the Indian Theological Seminary (ITS).

Founded by the Jesuits, ITS is now an interdenominational seminary located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, with Gilgal Gospel Mission as its missionary training arm. The Gilgal Gospel Mission trains men and women, and sends them out into the world at large in pairs, into Hindu villages, with a view to them establishing friendship in the villages, and starting, first, Sunday Schools and, later, Churches. ITS prepares three types of Church planters (a) bare foot evangelists (C. Th), (b) Bachelor of Theology (B. Th), and (c) Master of Divinity (M. Div). Graduates who prepare at ITS fulfill its mission of “Preaching Christ and Planting Churches” in every village, town and city.

Many return to their homes in the various parts of India to continue teaching, preaching, and planting churches. Today, Christianity is India’s third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2. 3% of India’s population. The popularization of Annual Retreats amongst Priests and the Populace As noted earlier, the Jesuits avidly pursued the implementation of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius that were a set of meditations, prayers and mental exercises designed to be practiced in the form of a four week meditative retreat from normal life. The basic purpose of these retreats was to mediate the human-God relationship; and, periodically re-examine and re-validate the nuances of that relationship.

Such annual retreats became popular in India not only amongst the Jesuit priests, but even amongst priests from other faiths. The concept of retreats spread to the corporate world too, and Sunanda Dutta-Ray writing in The Statesman dated January 26, 2006, mention three instances where Chief Executive Officers of large Indian corporations – all Jesuit alumni – instituted the concept of a 3-day annual retreat modeled after their experience in school. Sociological Influence The largest visible Jesuit influence on India has been the wide and deep sociological impact – in terms of the development of the Indian people and societies – that is discernible everywhere.

Jesuit Education With over 30 excellent high schools, over 10 high profile colleges for higher education, and innumerable elementary schools and vocational training centers all over India, Jesuit education is much sought after in the country. The foremost examples of Jesuit higher education are the Vellore Medical College and Hospital, one of India’s foremost teaching hospitals, Xavier Labor Relations Institute, one of India’s foremost business schools. Even St. Xavier’s College in Calcutta has produced many industry leaders, the foremost amongst them is Lakshmi Mittal, whose company – ArcelorMittal – is today the world’s largest steel producer.

Loyola College in Chennai has similarly produced many leaders for the country, even a President (Ramaswamy Venkataraman) and a world chess champion (Viswanathan Anand). Most of these educational institutions date back to the earlier part of the 20th century, if not earlier still, and played a vigorous role in nation-building when India became independent. Former President of India, Abdul Kalam, lauded the Jesuits’ role in India education, while opening the 6th global meet of Jesuit institutions in Calcutta: “”Jesuit institutions have a big role in the spread of modern education in the country. Being a Jesuit alumnus myself, I’m aware of the great contribution of Jesuit education not only in India but around the world” (as reported by Krittivas Mukherjee for Indo-Asian News Service).

Not content to be restricted to India alone, Jesuits from Calcutta recently gave education in Afghanistan a boost, when two of them – Maria Joseph and Sahaya Jude – recently traveled to the war-torn country and started training students and teachers (as reported in The Telegraph, Jan 4, 2010). It should be mentioned in passing that all Jesuit education in India is completely secular. Catholic students are given additional training in Catechism, but students of other faiths are usually treated to a secular Moral Science lecture, or – at most – a watered-down Bible History. Jesuit Social Work Jesuits have deeply been involved in social work and social reform.

Whole books can be written on this subject alone, because these engagements have been – and continue to be – so numerous and so vigorous. Caritas India has been at the forefront of traditional social work, as the front organization for Catholic Charities, with thousands of people and hundreds of project sites pning all across the country. It is only one of the more visible ones; in general, almost every Jesuit organization practices social work in its immediate vicinity, and engages the students of all its nationwide institutions in social activities. For instance, the Vidyajyoti College of Theology in Delhi has very active prison ministry, hospital ministry, slum ministry, tribal ministry, neighborhood ministry, and even a railway platform ministry.

Many Jesuits ventured out into the villages and made a mark with their social activism. Just one such example is Father Michael Anthony Windey (1921-2009), founder of the Village Reconstruction Organization (VRO), who joined the Jesuits in 1938, traveled to India in 1946 and was ordained a priest in 1950. When he passed away in Belgium in 2009 while under treatment for cancer, he was mourned by the Church, social workers and villagers in India, because he had dedicated his life to using Gandhian methods to revolutionize village life in India. Said Father A. X. J. Bosco, a former head of the Jesuits? Andhra Pradesh province who has worked as VRO? operational director: “Father Windey was never bothered about the religion of the person he helped. While selecting villages, he always chose to help the poorest village. ” Social Activism The involvement of the Jesuits extended to social activism, sometimes of a kind even questioned by the Vatican. Rone Tempest, the staff writer, reported in the L. A. Times, Jan 21, 1986, on the Pope’s visit to India: “Significantly, the Pope will not visit the northern Bihar Muzafapur area, where radical Catholic priests have recently organized Hindu serfs against powerful landlords, some of whom even maintain their own armies for private wars against their foes and bands of roving bandits, or dacoits.

Similarly, when he visits the Catholic stronghold state of Kerala in southern India, he has no plans to visit areas in which radical priests and nuns, India’s version of South America’s “liberation theologists,” have organized sailboat fishermen, mostly Hindus and Muslims, against the motorized fishing trawler industry. ” Leadership Training Service (LTS) LTS – short for Leadership Training Service – is a unique contribution by the Jesuits to Indian society. Initiated by five students of the Goethals Memorial School in Kurseong, West Bengal in 1959, Fr. Robert Wirth of St. Xavier’s School, Sahibganj, Bihar, was selected to lead the movement in 1970. Fr. Wirth did just that for the next 21 years from the LTS headquarter in Calcutta and spread the movement to Jesuit educational institutes in 24 States. The LT’s motto is: “For God and Country”, and resonated strongly with a developing India.

The LTS vision involves the four-fold objectives of (a) Personality Development; (b) Leadership Skills; (c) Social Awareness; and, Social Responsibility that leads to social development. The movement articulates this as “a journey from ‘I Consciousness’ (initiated through Personality development and mastering leadership skills) to ‘We Consciousness’ (achieved through inculcating social awareness and exercising social responsibility that leads to social development)” (as stated on its website: www. LTSworld. com). The LTS celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2009, and brought Fr. Robert Wirth – who collaborated in the writing of this paper – all the way from Malta to the LT’s headquarters in Calcutta.

Today there are reportedly over 15,000 LTSers working towards India’s progress. Leadership Lessons from the Jesuits Consistent and long-term success is never a result of accident or luck. The Jesuits have demonstrated strong leadership qualities throughout their 500-year history in India. Servant Leadership The Jesuits, through their disciplined and exemplary behavior, became role models for the Indian populace who observed them, interacted with them, and learned from them. Influencing through exemplary behavior is a fundamental tenet of servant leadership. The Jesuits also extensively and deeply served the people whose lives they touched, through social work, educational institutions, hospitals and other missions.

This service was, and continues to be, in the best tradition of servitude demonstrated by Christ. Transformation Leadership Mark Pousson, Program Director for Service Learning at The Reinert Center for Teaching Excellence at the St. Louis University writes in The Notebook, a publication of the Reinert Center: “Historically, the Jesuits espouse the power of transformation through conversation,” (Vol 11, Issue 4), and goes on to say that Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, readily engaged people in conversation about God and spirituality. It is from his value of transformation through experiences that Saint Ignatius companions infused transformation in what is known as the Jesuit tradition of education.

Jesuits heavily utilized this power of transformation through pedagogy and education in India, and – as earlier stated in this article – has left an indelible mark on the Indian education landscape. The Jesuits also practiced transformational leadership by inspiring Indians to strive for something better than they were used to, to push the limit, and to aim for excellence. Evidence of this is plentiful, but a particular note may be taken of the Jesuit’s LTS (Leadership Training Service) initiative described earlier, which was a totally new concept in India when it was started in 1959, and continues to inspire and build the current generation of young leaders in the 21st century. In fact, the LTS movement resonates strongly with one of the fundamentals goal of transformation leadership: the make leaders out of followers.

The Annual Retreats that the Jesuits taught the Indians and popularized amongst people of faith as well as the corporate world, was another instance where people were inspired and motivated to implement and practice innovative leadership solutions for everyday problems. Transactional Leadership Transactional leadership was commonly practiced by the Jesuits. A very common example was the exchange of better medical care for conversion to Christianity. It was a subtle but effective message. When the Jesuits set up modern medical care facilities in rural India – especially in the Tribal areas where people were not even Hindus, but practiced some form of pantheism – it is widely believed that it was not so much the preaching as the access to modern medical care that converted lots of tribal people to Christianity.

Social Learning Theory

Jesuit social activism, social work, and its military-like discipline – all widely admired by the Hindus of India – triggered the positive effects of the Social Learning Theory, which argues that people learn best through a 3-step emulation process defined as:

1. observation,
2. imitation,
3. modeling.

When people like behavior they would like to emulate, they are motivated to do so on their own without having to be compelled in some covert or overt manner to oblige. Social Learning Theory, therefore, has feeds into the Servant Leadership theory, because servant leaders aim to influence followers through exemplary action and self-motivated emulation. The Jesuits in India put both servant leadership and social learning theories to good use.

Epilogue

In closing, a short acknowledgment says it all: Without the Jesuits, India would be a different country.