The Portal to Jesuit Studies

The annual Scientiae conference, held this year at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, takes place from May 16-18, 2018. Keynote addresses for this conference dedicated to “disciplines of knowing in the early modern world” will be delivered by Surekha Davies (Western Connecticut State University) and Vladimir Urbanek (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic).

More details about the conference are available online. Selected papers in the field of Jesuit Studies appear below.

— Panel: Interdisciplinary aspects of Athanasius Kircher’s Encyclopaedia of Music Musurgia
Universalis (1650)

Even though the two-volume encyclopaedia of music Musurgia Universalis by the German Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) appeared in Rome in 1650 (half a century into the baroque era), being as it is a compendium of theory and history of music, it draws heavily on the theories, practices and perspectives on music of previous periods, mainly the renaissance. So much so, that it might arguably be viewed as a summary these views on music during the late renaissance rather than of the early baroque, written at the end of that era and just after the conclusion of both the lives and oeuvre of the greatest exponents
of the style.

The research group “Artes y Modelos de Pensamiento” (“Arts and Models of Thought”) of the Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) has been researching on the book since March
2016, and wishes to share with the international academic community a few of its findings so far. The papers presented will include:

— Johann F.W. Hasler, The research group “Artes y Modelos de Pensamiento” of the Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) and its research project on the appearances of musical notation in the Musurgia Universalis”

— Juan Camilo Toro & Hasler (as co-author), “Proto-zoomusicology” in the XVIIth century? Birdsong and other proposed ‘musics of Nature’ of both the Old and New Worlds, as reported in the Musurgia Universalis.

— David Gaviria Piedrahíta & Hasler (as coauthor), “Proto-ethnomusicology” in the XVIIth century? Approaches to extra-European musics in the Musurgia Universalis.

— Susana Gómez Castaño & Hasler (as coauthor), Early computer music in the XVIIth century? Automatic and randomly generated music in the Musurgia Universalis.

— Elisa Frei (Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, Boston College), “He studies Mathematics, because he heard it can be of use there”: The motivations behind Jesuit petitions for Chinese missionary assignments (17th-18th centuries)

The Society of Jesus—established by Ignatius of Loyola and approved by Paul III in 1540—was initially intended to engage in priestly evangelization and apostolic ministry. This apostolic work benefited from close relations with the Spanish and Portuguese empire, providing the crowns with capable and devoted missionaries and allowing Jesuits to travel to almost any corner of the world. The Eastern Indies were one of the Jesuits’ most distant and exotic destinations. The motives behind these missionary vocations are found in the Litterae indipetae, the voluntary petitions European Jesuits wrote to their leadership in Rome requesting assignments abroad. Members from the Italian provinces alone submitted more than 1,500 such letters between the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries. Competition for missionary assignments, especially in the Indies, was fierce, and the candidates employed multiple strategies in their indipetae. As it has been extensively studied, Jesuits at China’s Qing court were desired for their work as astronomers, scientists, cartographers, and translators. It was in stressing their mathematical proficiency that some indipeti writers most sought to distance themselves from their rival applicants and to receive their superior’s permission to be sent abroad. This paper aims to follow the careers of two Italian Jesuits asking for a Chinese assignment, who underlined their mathematical skills. We will see how the Roman Ludovico Gonzaga and the Sicilian Antonino Porzio had a similar approach but different results, because Mathematics was only one of the influential factors of a candidacy for the Eastern Indies.

— Svorad Zavarský (Slovak Academy of Sciences), Observatio in the thought and practice of Martinus Szent-Ivany SJ (1633-1705)

In his De scientiis in genere, the Central European Jesuit polymath Martinus Szent-Ivany proposed his own version of the universal method of knowledge acquisition which, consisting of six parts or “sources”, took its point of departure from the practice of observation. In this, his immediate model seems to have been his fellow Jesuit Sebastián Izquierdo who too considered observation to be the first “instrument of knowing” (Pharus scientiarum, Disp. 24). Szent-Ivany’s works, non-theological and theological alike, provide us with ample material for exploring his use of the intellectual tool of observation: his Curiosiora et selectiora variarum scientiarum miscellanea (1689-1709) contain twenty “hundreds” of observations (centuriae observationum), of which those on plants are, interestingly, almost wholly excerpted from Francis Bacon’s Sylva sylvarum. Besides that, observationes form part of many of his dissertations included in the Curiosiora miscellanea, of which one, entitled Rectus modus interpretandi Scripturam Sacram (1696), is an assemblage of more than five hundred observations simply following one another. A case apart is Szent-Ivany’s use of observation in his polemical theological treatises where it serves the purpose of defining the adversary and his strategies. Thus we can explore the character of Szent-Ivany’s observation in a broad spectrum of texts and from different perspectives. Particularly intriguing will be to consider his intrumentalization of observatio in relation to the other “sources” of his method—axioms, analysis, and analogy—with which it often overlaps. Aiming to make a contribution to the understanding of the early modern notion of observatio, this paper will examine Szent-Ivany’s practice in the light of Izquierdo’s elaborate theory.

— Francisco Malta Romeiras (Universidade de Lisboa), Putting the Indexes into Practice: A Bibliographical Analysis of Prohibited Books
The most elemental issues regarding the censorship of scientific books in Portugal have been overlooked in the past decades. By using an innovative bibliographical approach in the analysis of ca. 200 prohibited books of medicine, natural philosophy and natural history in the collections of the Portuguese National Library, this paper will shed some light into the differences between what was written in the Indexes of Forbidden Books and what was effectively put in to practice. This paper will also provide an original typology of censures that can be replicated in the study of other collections of expurgated books.

On May 24, a two-day symposium begins at l’Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 to consider Jesuit-Protestant relationships from the Reformation to the 21st century. “Jésuites et protestants, XVIe-XXIe siècles” has been organized by Yves Krumenacker (université Lyon 3) and Philippe Martin (université Lyon 2).

The event features presentations by fifteen scholars on a range of topics: comparing the experiences of two reformers who studied at the Collège de Montaigu–Ignatius of Loyola and John Calvin; the concepts of fasting for Bellarmine and Protestants; educational conflicts in 16th-century Strasbourg; 20th-century Jesuit and Protestant theology; and Jesuit and Protestant missions in Africa and Madagascar. A full program (also appearing below) and further details are available online.

PROGRAMME

JEUDI 24 MAI

La première Compagnie

— Introduction, Philippe Martin (Université Lyon 2)

— Patrick Hornbeck (Fordham University, USA) : “Deux réformateurs, un collège : Montaigu, Ignace de Loyola, et Jean Calvin”

— Alain Cullière (Université de Lorraine) : “De la « secte luthérienne » à la « secte des jésuites ». Expression de la marginalisation religieuse dans la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle”

— Pierre-Antoine Fabre (EHESS) : “La conversion à la Réforme dans la première Compagnie de Jésus”

— Sylvio de Franceschi (EPHE) : “Bellarmin, le jeûne et les protestants”

— Fabienne Henryot (ENSSIB) : “L’économie de la controverse : l’édition des disputes 1598-1630”

— Julien Léonard (Université de Lorraine) : “Le faux au service de la controverse. Le pasteur Samuel Des Marets face aux jésuites de Maastricht (1632-1636)”

— Stefano Simiz (Université de Lorraine) : “Louis Sevestre controversiste jésuite et auteur de (fausses) lettres de Calvin. Le regard d’un Compagnon sur les pasteurs réformés de Metz au milieu des années 1650”

— Didier Boisson (Université d’Angers) : “Autour de l’application de la déclaration de 1645. Les arguments du jésuite Bernard Meynier et l’avocat réformé Pierre Loride au début des années 1660”

— Nicolas Guyard (Université Lyon 3) : “Les échos de Calvin. Les reliques, les jésuites et les protestants au XVIIe siècle”

— Bruno Maes (Université de Lorraine) : “Un missionnaire jésuite en terre protestante : l’exemple de Jean-François Régis en Velay et en Vivarais”

— Michel Fédou : “Jésuites et protestants dans la théologie du XXe siècle”

VENDREDI 25 MAI

— Simona Negruzzo (université de Bologne) : « “Les Jésuites nous secondent”. La confrontation pédagogique entre protestants et catholiques dans le Strasbourg du XVIe siècle »

— Yves Krumenacker (Université Lyon 3) : “Bayle juge Loyola”

La Nouvelle Compagnie

— Philippe Rocher (IPRA – Institut du Pluralisme Religieux et de l’Athéisme, MSH Ange-Guépin, Nantes) : “Les jésuites et la crise du protestantisme, Du Second Empire à l’affaire Dreyfus”

— Dzianis Kandakou (Université Polotsk, Biélorussie) : “Jésuites et protestants en Russie au début du XIXe siècle”

— Christophe Chalamet (Université de Genève) : “Karl Barth, Erich Przywara, s.j. et la question de l’analogie”

— Claude Prudhomme (Université Lyon 2) : “Jésuites et protestants dans les pays de missions (Afrique et Madagascar)”

— Olivier Chatelan (Université Lyon 3) : “Les protestants français et le pape François”

— Remi de Maindreville (Paris) : “Des témoignages unanimes, des confessions différentes”

— Conclusions : Yves Krumenacker et Philippe Martin

Paper and panel proposals are now being accepted for an international, interdisciplinary conference to be held in Lisbon, at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, NOVA, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, from December 13-15, 2018.  Details are available at ahostoftongues.wordpress.com.

A host of tongues: Multilingualism, lingua franca and translation in the Early Modern period will consider the “fascinating linguistic maelstrom” of early modern Europe, where “Latin, the great scholarly lingua franca of the medieval period, was beginning to crack as the tectonic plates shifted beneath it.” The conference announcement notes that “the vernaculars had not yet crystallized into the national languages that they would become a century later, and bi-or multilingualism was still rife.” With print capitalism and the new contacts between languages, “new lingua francas emerged to serve particular purposes in different geographic regions or were imposed through conquest and settlement.”

The conference will be of interest to cultural historians who have “studied the relationship between language, empire and mission, processes of cultural transmission and the influence of social, political and economic factors on human communications.” Others specialists include historical linguists, translation studies specialists, literary scholars.

Confirmed keynote speakers at A host of tongues include

— Peter Burke, Cambridge University,

— Hugo Cardoso, University of Lisbon,

— Antje Flüchter, University of Bielefeld,

— Theo Hermans, University College, London,

— Joan-Pau Rubiés, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona,

— Otto Zwartjes, University Paris-Diderot VII

Institutions associated with the conference in Lisbon are

— The Centre for the Humanities (CHAM),

— The Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies (CETAPS) of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Nova University, Lisbon (FCSH-Nova),

— The Centre for Studies in Letters (CEL) based at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real.

The scholars on the committee responsible for organizing the conference are:

— Karen Bennett (FCSH/CETAPS),

— Angelo Cattaneo (FCSH/CHAM),

— Gonçalo Fernandes (UTAD/CEL),

— João LuÍs Lisboa (FCSH/CHAM),

— Rogério Puga (FCSH/CETAPS/CHAM).

The full text of the call for papers appears below.

Scholars should submit an abstract of up to 250 words (for individual papers) or 1,000 words (for panels) to host.of.tongues@fcsh.unl.pt along with a brief biosketch (up to 50 words) by June 30. Decisions on accepted papers will be announced July 31.

International Conference

A host of tongues…: Multilingualism, lingua franca and translation in the Early Modern period

Nova-FCSH, Lisbon, 13^th to 15^th December 2018

https://ahostoftongues.wordpress.com

Call for Papers

In the 15^th and 16^th centuries, the linguistic situation in Europe was one of remarkable fluidity. Latin, the great scholarly lingua franca of the medieval period, was beginning to crack as the tectonic plates shifted beneath it, but the vernaculars had not yet crystallized into the national languages that they would become a century later, and bi- or multilingualism was still rife. Through the influence of print capitalism, the dialects that occupied the informal space were starting to organise into broad fields of communication and exchange (Anderson 2006: 37-46), though the boundaries between them were not yet clearly defined nor the links to territory fully established. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, languages were coming into contact with an intensity that they had never had before (Burke 2004: 111-140), influencing each other and throwing up all manner of hybrids and pidgins as peoples tried to communicate using the semiotic resources they had available. New lingua francas emerged to serve particular purposes in different geographic regions or were imposed through conquest and settlement (Ostler 2005: 323-516). And translation proliferated at the seams of such cultural encounters, undertaken for different reasons by a diverse demographic that included missionaries, scientists, traders, aristocrats, emigrés, refugees and renegades (Burke 2007: 11-16).

This fascinating linguistic maelstrom has understandably attracted the attention of scholars from a variety of different backgrounds. Cultural historians have studied the relationship between language, empire and mission, processes of cultural transmission and the influence of social, political and economic factors on human communications. Historical linguists have investigated language contact, codification and language change (Zwartjes 2011). Translation studies specialists are interested in how translation was conceptualized and practised during the period (Kittel et al. 2007), and literary scholars have looked at how multilingualism is represented in plays and poems of the period (Delabastita and Hoenselaars 2015). There have also been postcolonial engagements with the subject, given the often devastating effects of Western European language ideologies on precolonial plurilingual practices (e.g. Canagarajah and Liyanage 2005), as well as gendered perspectives, centring on women’s language in different cultural spaces.

This conference hopes to attract specialists from all of these areas and beyond in an attempt to generate a truly interdisciplinary debate about linguistic behaviour in the Early Modern period. Proposals are invited for 15-20 minute papers on any language-related topic dealing with the period 1400 to 1800. Thematic panel proposals are also welcome (2-hour sessions involving 3-4 speakers). Subjects may include:

• Multi- or translingual practices in particular parts of the world
• Translational activities, including interpreting, cultural translation, self-translation, intersemiotic translation and paratranslational processes
• Lingua francas in particular regions and domains
• The historical development of national languages and subnational varieties
• Language contact and its (cultural, political, ideological, linguistic) consequences
• The linguistic practices of specific social groups (e.g. traders, missionaries, scientists, women)
• Hybridity and code-switching in public and private spaces
• Literary heteroglossia and macaronics
• Processes of cultural transmission (science, philosophy, religion, art, culture of everyday life etc)
• The linguistic effects of conquest, settlement, diaspora and migration
• Language and education
• The effects of technology
• The economy of linguistic exchange
• Language ecologies
• Language and empire

Keynote speakers (confirmed)

Peter Burke (Cambridge University)

Hugo Cardoso (University of Lisbon)

Antje Flüchter (University of Bielefeld

Theo Hermans (University College, London)

Joan-Pau Rubiés (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona)

Otto Zwartjes (University Paris-Diderot VII)

An abstract of up to 250 words (for individual papers) or 1000 words (for panels) should be submitted to host.of.tongues@fcsh.unl.pt  accompanied by a brief biosketch (up to 50 words) by 30^th June. You will be notified 31st July of your paper’s acceptance.

Organizing Committee:

Karen Bennett (FCSH/CETAPS)

Angelo Cattaneo (FCSH/CHAM)

Gonçalo Fernandes (UTAD/CEL)

João LuÍs Lisboa (FCSH/CHAM)

Rogério Puga (FCSH/CETAPS/CHAM)

References:

Anderson, Benedict. 2006. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition. London and New York: Verso.

Burke, Peter. 2004. Languages and Communities in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

—   2007. ‘Cultures of translation in early modern Europe’. In P. Burke and R. Po-chia Hsia (eds). Cultural Translation in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. 7-38.

Canagarajah, A. Suresh, and Liyanage, Indika. 2012. ‘Lessons from Pre-Colonial Multilingualism.’ In The Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism, M. Martin-Jones, A. Blackledge and A. Creese (eds), London and New York: Routledge. 49-65.

Classen, Albrecht, ed. 2016. Multilingualism in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: Communication and Miscommunication in the Premodern World. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.

Delabastita, Dirk, and A. J. Hoenselaars, eds. 2015.  Multilingualism in the Drama of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Kittel, Harald, Armin Paul Frank, Norbert Greiner, Theo Hermans, Werner Koller, José Lambert and Fritz Paul (eds) with Juliane House, and Brigitte Schultze. 2007. ‘Translation with and between cultures: The European Renaissance’. Übersetzung, Translation, Traduction. Vol. II. Berlin & New York: De Gruyter. 1375-1459.

Ostler, Nicholas. 2005. Empires of the World: A Language History of the World. London: HarperCollins.

Zwartjes, Otto. 2011. Portuguese Missionary Grammars in Asia, Africa and Brazil, 1550-1800. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.