{"id":7425,"date":"2025-07-22T11:15:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gesuitieducazione.it\/?p=7425"},"modified":"2025-07-22T11:15:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:15:26","slug":"reflecting-on-identity-and-education-the-jesuit-shift-between-the-19th-and-20th-centuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gesuitieducazione.it\/en\/reflecting-on-identity-and-education-the-jesuit-shift-between-the-19th-and-20th-centuries\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on identity and education: the Jesuit shift between the 19th and 20th centuries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Between the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th, the Society of Jesus embarked on a profound reflection on its educational role. In a period marked by rapid transformations<\/a> – industrialization, secularization, world wars, and the emergence of the social sciences – the Jesuits, too, faced the need to renew their educational mission<\/a> without abandoning their Ignatian roots.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A return to spiritual foundations<\/strong>
At the heart of this renewal was the desire to rediscover what had always been central to Jesuit pedagogy<\/a>: the experience of Saint Ignatius of Loyola<\/a>\u2019s Spiritual Exercises. Faced with new cultural and social challenges, the Society came to understand that education could not be limited to the transmission of knowledge. To educate meant helping people discern, to read reality with an inner gaze, to integrate knowledge and conscience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, discernment increasingly became the guiding thread of a pedagogy aimed at forming not just sharp minds, but also free and responsible hearts oriented toward the common good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toward integral formation<\/strong>
Already in the early decades of the 20th century – especially in Jesuit schools and colleges in Europe and the United States – a broader vision of education began to emerge. The Ignatian intuition of the integral formation<\/a> of the person was reinforced: one that encompasses intellectual, spiritual, relational, and social dimensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching gradually opened to dialogue with contemporary philosophy, emerging psychology, and the human sciences, while maintaining strong theological and spiritual foundations. The goal was not merely to \u201cform good students,\u201d but to help young people become men and women capable of making free and responsible choices. The expression \u201cmen and women for others\u201d, made famous by Pedro Arrupe in 1973, would later summarize a perspective already maturing in the preceding decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laying the foundations of a global educational network<\/strong>
It was precisely between the 19th and 20th centuries that the foundations were laid for what is today the global network of Jesuit schools and universities. Jesuit institutions expanded across every continent: from Europe to the United States, from Latin America to Asia. A truly international educational community began to take shape, where diverse experiences could enrich one another while remaining faithful to local contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, this network includes over 800 educational institutions and more than 200 universities worldwide – one of the living legacies of the Society of Jesus: an educational bridge that unites cultures, languages, and generations under the banner of discernment and care for the whole person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Culture, publishing, and intellectual engagement<\/strong>
Alongside their work in schools, the Jesuits also developed a vibrant cultural and editorial presence during this period. Journals, research centers, and publishing houses emerged to foster dialogue between faith, culture, and science. Among the most significant examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n