News in Jesuit Studies
The following are notices of significant events related to the field of Jesuit Studies.
The notices appear chronologically, and all entries are indexed into the Portal’s search capabilities.
To contribute news of significant publications and events, both recent and forthcoming, please contact the Portal’s editors (jesuitportal@bc.edu)
Jesuit Sources has published a new English translation of The Duties of a Teacher, a handbook issued by the National Education Commission of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1787. Duties was written by Grzegorz Piramowicz, a former Jesuit teacher who sought to guide how grammar school teachers could serve the larger society. According to the publisher, Piramowicz “lays out a much more ambitious curriculum, one in keeping with the latest innovations in Enlightenment thinking,” while also hoping to “convince the ruling class of the Commonwealth that such sweeping pedagogical reform was not only necessary, but a moral imperative.”
The Duties of a Teacher is translated and edited by Mark O’Connor, formerly an instructor in the Honors Program at Boston College. Piramowicz’s text is divided into four parts:
- “The Goal, the Duties, and the Means of Fulfilling These Duties of a Teacher”
- “With Regard to the Upbringing of Children, Especially Those Raised in Small Towns and Villages”
- “Teaching the Young about Duties, Morals, and of Instruction in the Virtues”
- “By What Means the Teacher Can Present Effectively the Subjects Assigned to the Schools”
To learn more about this volume, please visit jesuitsources.com (http://jesuitsources.bc.edu/the-duties-of-a-teacher/).
Brill’s Jesuit Studies book series has published its tenth volume, The Archaeology of the Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia (1557–1632). The text is published by four authors: Víctor M. Fernández of Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Jorge de Torres of the British Museum, Andreu Martínez d’Alòs-Moner of the University of Gondär, Ethiopia, and Carlos Cañete of the Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales in Madrid.
According to the publisher, The Archaeology of the Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia provides the first comprehensive examination of the “missionary architecture” of the churches, royal residences, and other royal structures built by “Jesuit padres, Ethiopian and Indian masons, and royal Ethiopian patrons.” The book considers ten known extant sites–from Fǝremona and the Royal-Missionary Complex of Azäzo-Gännätä Iyäsus to Dänqäz and Qwälläla–as well as hypothesizes on the so-called “‘lost’ missions.”
More information about this title, including a detailed table of contents, is available through Brill (http://www.brill.com/products/book/archaeology-jesuit-missions-ethiopia-1557-1632). More information about the Jesuit Studies book series is also available through Brill.
Between July 11 and July 14 in Nairobi, the Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa (JHIA) hosts an important scholarly conference examining historical encounters between Catholics and Protestants in Africa. The event, marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, gathers more than 20 scholars to consider the “ecumenical important” of those encounters, addressing such questions as:
- “Why did it take so long for the Reformation to have a direct impact on Africa?”
- “How did 19th century missionaries, who would have left home separately, interact in the African mission field, what could be the impact of their mode of interaction on subsequent African Christianity, and how did colonial politics shape denominational boundaries and facilitate their protection?”
- “Has there been an ecumenical advantage that is specific to Africa, and how do Christian denominations relate in Africa today?”
Abstracts from the presentations are available online. Follow the JHIA on Twitter (@jhiafrica) for more details.