International Symposium

The International Symposia on Jesuit Studies offer annual opportunities to cross thematic, chronological, and disciplinary boundaries. Symposia have a global impact, attracting a diverse community of scholars, thus far, in Nairobi, Seville, and Boston.

Previous symposia featured scholarly presentations on the distinctiveness of Jesuits and their ministries (or the quidditas Jesuitica), the encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, the experiences of Francisco Suárez and other Jesuits with the complexities of modernity, and the tradition and future of collecting history in the Society of Jesus.

The volumes of presentations from the 2015 and 2016 symposia are available in Open Access as part of Brill’s Jesuit Studies book series (Exploring Jesuit Distinctiveness: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Ways of Proceeding within the Society of Jesus and Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa). Brill has also published volumes emerging from the 2017 and 2018 events.

Beginning with the 2019 International Symposium on Jesuit Studies, Jesuit Sources will publish the selected proceedings, and all peer-reviewed essays will be hosted in the Digital Publications section of the Jesuit Sources webstore. The volumes appear as part IJS Studies, an imprint at Jesuit Sources dedicated to research on Jesuits and the Society of Jesus. This series features peer-reviewed secondary scholarship examining Jesuit history, spirituality, pedagogy, and other themes. 

With questions or if you wish to collaborate on the International Symposia, please contact the Institute.