Every now and again, there’s a picture of David Tenant that pops up on social media where he’s taking a selfie at a con, and there’s some guy just next to him with his nose in his phone. The caption is almost always some suggestion of what the other guy is missing being that close to a celebrity and not knowing it. Here’s my version of that, kind of. I kind of remember the final time I graduated that the Commencement speaker was referred to as Stephen Colbert’s personal Jesuit. The school being a Jesuit institution, that makes sense, but I am only finding out now, years later, that James Martin SJ is actually somewhat of a celebrity. I heard him being interviewed about his most recent book on an NPR early morning show called “Ye Gods”, and looked him up. I got my hands on The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and the introduction mentioned the Colbert connection. I went back and looked up the name of the graduation speaker my year, and indeed, that’s who it was. Funny thing is, I don’t even remember what the speech was about.
The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything is really more of an explanation of some of the basic tenants of the Jesuit order and almost a general history of St Ignatius, and how some of that knowledge might be useful to a generic Christian of most any flavor. There’s a lot of personal anecdotes along with the theological and historical background, and it’s pretty readable. As someone who worked in the secular world (HR for General Electric of all things) for a while before joining the Jesuits and being ordained as a priest, Father Martin is uniquely qualified in some ways to be a public media face for both the Church and the Jesuits. The discussion of things like prayer, spiritual vs religious, freedom and obedience, vows of chastity and poverty, and so on, are at the same time clearly Jesuit but also framed as possible and useful for practically anyone.
It’s a good read with some interesting ideas about religious practice, especially in the modern world, but as someone who knows probably a little more than average about Christian Church history, it does feel like some key things get overlooked. For example, the Jesuits were definitely educators and missionaries as gets pointed out, but this also means they played a role in colonialism and not always in a good way. This is completely ignored. There is also a lot of attention on mindful consideration (of a lot of things), but that takes time and energy; most people don’t have the resources to go on week-long retreats, or take up the kind of service someone in an order has the chance to do. The eternal optimism sometimes feels a little Pollyanna.
Still worth reading, don’t regret it, but yeah, the title might be a tad misleading. This really isn’t about “almost everything”; that’s ok, but the book itself could do with admitting that.
