Over the course of recent centuries, spirituality has evolved as a separate entity from academic theology. This has left behind a conflict in modernity between the two areas and raises the question of how we might reconcile the relationship between theology and spirituality.
In Renewing Theology: Ignatian Spirituality and Karl Rahner, Ignacio Ellacuría, and Pope Francis, J. Matthew Ashley aims to reconcile this divide by turning to Ignatian spirituality and three prominent twentieth-century theologians who embraced its spiritual resources: Karl Rahner, Ignacio Ellacuría, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio—that is, Pope Francis. Beginning his investigation by considering the historical origins of the widening separation between spirituality and academic theology in the Christian West, Ashley then uses the theologies of Rahner, Ellacuría, and Pope Francis as case studies to show how an Ignatian spirituality might provide a guide amid the challenges of modernity.
Called “[a] splendid exhibition of the profound harmonies to be found between the needs of the modern world, the mission of theology and the spirituality of Ignatius,” by The Way, Renewing Theology is a must read for scholars and students of systematic theology, as well as readers who are interested in the future of theology and spirituality in a fragmented age.
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J. Matthew Ashley is professor of Christian Spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including Take Lord and Receive All My Memory: Toward an Anamnestic Mysticism.
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