Jesuit Polymath of Madrid: The Literary Enterprise of Juan Eusebio Nieremberg (1595 - 1658)

In Jesuit Polymath of Madrid D. Scott Hendrickson offers the first English-language account of the life and work of Juan Eusebio Nieremberg (1595-1658), a leading intellectual in Spain during the turbulent decades of the mid-seventeenth century. Most remembered as a prominent ascetic in the neo-Platonic tradition, Nieremberg emerges here as a writer deeply indebted to the legacy of Ignatius Loyola and his Spiritual Exercises . Hendrickson convincingly shows how Nieremberg drew from his formation in the Jesuit order at the time of its first centenary to engage the cultural and intellectual currents of the Spanish Golden Age. As an author of some seventy-five works, which represent several genres and were translated throughout Europe and abroad, Nieremberg s literary enterprise demands attention." Jesuit Polymath of Madrid: The Literary Enterprise of Juan Eusebio Nieremberg (1595–1658) Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations List of Illustrations Introduction 1: Juan Eusebio Nieremberg Introduction The Jesuit Faithful Son of Saint Ignatius Christian Discernment The Ignatian Exercises: Seeking and Finding the Divine Will Discernment in Early Modern Spain Nieremberg and the Exercises Jesuit Ministry of the Word Erudite Eclecticism Conclusion 2: Catechetical Innovations Introduction Catechetical Context: Crying Tears of Blood Nieremberg and Trent The Voice of Doctrine The Catechetical Examples: Entertaining Digressions Narrative Appeal: The Open Roads of Spain Contemplating the Example: To Bring to Memory Assimilating the Example: The Story of One’s Life The Wider Application of the Exemplo Conclusion 3: Contemplating the Book of Nature Introduction Nieremberg’s Natural Philosophy The Miscellanies: Part Knowledge, Part Wonder Knowledge of the Natural World: Ad perfectam cognitionem Reading the Book of Nature: Harmony and Deformity Contemplating the Book of Nature: The Consideration Applying the Lessons of Nature: Deus me fecit Conclusion 4: The Spiritual Exercise of Reading Introduction The Eusebio Proper Knowledge Contemptus mundi Didactic Iconography: Ser and Parecer A Spiritual Itinerary Meditative Reading Conclusion 5: Public Maladies and Prudent Reform Introduction Words of Counsel The Pain of National Decline The Cause The Remedy Prudent Reform Conclusion Conclusion 1: Bibliography of Works by Juan Eusebio Nieremberg 2: Excerpts of Cited Decrees from the Council of Trent Bibliography Index In Jesuit Polymath of Madrid D. Scott Hendrickson offers an account of the life and literary enterprise of Juan Eusebio Nieremberg (1595-1658), who drew from his formation in the Jesuit Order to engage the cultural currents of seventeenth-century Spain By D. Scott Hendrickson, S.j. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 210-226) And Index.