Men Astutely Trained: A History Of The Jesuits In The American Century

A perceptive & provocative analysis of the transformation that swept through American Catholicism in the decades leading up to Vatican II. Captures the drama of the Jesuits confrontation with American modernity. Jokers, wisemen, failures, the brilliant & the merely bemused march through the book s pages. The Jesuits have been the carriers of a culture borne along by a fruitful & often frustrating tension between their dual commitment to ancient virtues & to the pursuit of the free play of ideas. Explains developments among the Jesuits & sets them in the larger context of the sea-changes that shook the world & the Catholic Church in the world during the mid-20th century. "A remarkable synthesis of religious & cultural history." B&W photos.