Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Protestant Evangelical Get Into St. Ignatius

In recent times, Daniel Goleman has reminded us of the importance of self-awareness that leads to self-management.
The Jesuits knew this centuries earlier. Ignatius was well acquainted with the "disorders" of his former way of life and how that disordered inner world led to disturbance and disaster.
Ignatius developed ways of self-examination that searched out one's desires and motives.

Ignatius wanted the Jesuits to move into a mature self-knowledge, where with clarity and honesty they understood their ego, and were intentional about moving away from self-deception.

In this matter, Ignatius, for me, seems closely akin to John Calvin, who understood the intricacies of the fallen, deformed inner world and who believed that true wisdom consisted of the true knowledge of God and the true knowledge of one's self.

There is a rich, dynamic interplay and movement between the pursuit of knowing Christ and knowing oneself.
Calvin admitted that he did not know which one came first or led to the other, they were so intertwined. I suspect that Ignatius would have agreed with this.

Read the full post (here) by the self described Evangelical Brian K. Rice, his blog is called Evangelicals on the Ignatian Road.

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