Description
Book SynopsisGaston Fessard, S.J. (1897–1978), was a major mid-twentieth century French intellectual. He was a Hegel expert, but also wrote on issues of the day ranging from the Vichy regime to Christian-Marxist dialogue. The product of several decades of reflection, Fessard’s work on the Dialectic of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola is the only one of its kind, a careful and penetrating study into the structure and tension of life-changing choices that Ignatius had in mind in his four week spiritual exercises. The Exercises insist on the way of making a spiritual Election, or choice in keeping with God’s will for oneself and for the Christian community at a particular moment in one’s existence.
Table of ContentsThoughts on the Dialectic of the Spiritual Exercises Oliva Blanchette and James Colbert List of Figures Preface Postscript Introduction 1 Division of the Exercises 1 How to Make the Four Weeks Coincide with the Three Ways? 2 Deduction of the Divisions of the Exercises part 1: Before the Act of Freedom 2 Positing Non-being: Week One 3 Negation of the Positing of Non-being: Week Two 1 The Three Degrees of Humility Part 2: Passage from the Before to the After Introduction to Part 2 4 The Election 1 Preamble to the Election 2 Introduction concerning the Things about Which Election Must Be Made 3 The Three Times of the Election 4 Two Ways of Making Election in the Third Time (Numbers 178–188) 5 For the Amendment and Reform of One’s Own Life and Condition (Number 189) Part 3: After the Act of Freedom Introduction to Part 3 5 Exclusion of All Non-being: Third Week 1 The Growth of the Exclusion of Non-being 2 Passage from the Third to the Fourth Moment: Triduum Mortis 3 Application to the Act of Freedom 6 Positing of Being: Fourth Week 1 Application to the Act of Freedom 2 Growth of the Positing of the Being 3 The Disappearance of the Positing of Being: Ascension Conclusion: The Contemplatio Ad Amorem Obtinendum 1 First Point 2 Second Point 3 Third Point 4 Fourth Point 5 Suscipe Circularity of the Exercises and Circularity of Absolute Knowledge: From Ignatius to Hegel through Hölderlin Afterword 1 Essay on Constructing a Geometrical Scheme of the Exercises 2 Division of the Exercises 3 Perspectives Appendix: Rules for the Discernment of Spirits 1 Rules for the First Week (Numbers 313–327) 2 Rules for the Second Week (Numbers 328–336) Further Study of the Ignatian Maxim Haec sit prima agendorum regula: sic Deo fide, quasi rerum successus omnis a te, nihil a Deo ponderet; ita tamen iis omnem operam admove, quasi tu nihil, Deus omnia solus sit facturus Section 1: Sources of the Traditional Maxim Section 2: Structure of Maxim Number 2 Section 3: The Objections against the Traditional Maxim Section 4: The Secret of These Objections Figures Figures 1–10 Figures 14–19 Figures 20–29 Elogium Sepulcrale Index
