Francisco Suárez and the Complexities of Modernity

Abstract

I present here a key to reading the work of Jesuit thinker Francisco Suárez in the context of the plurality and complexity of modernity. I show the main configuration that defines modernity in its hegemonic version, as well as its limitations. From there, I propose how Suárez’s work can be understood from the perspective of its own Ignatian and Jesuit spiritual framework and in relation to the development of modernity. Although a dominant version of modernity has historically prevailed, modernity cannot be understood as a uniform process but one that has been articulated and expressed in different civilizing missions since the Renaissance. One modern way of responding to the socio-cultural challenges of the Renaissance was articulated by the Society of Jesus. I believe that in light of what I term an “Ignatian modernity,” we can better understand Suárez’s intellectual mission, its historical virtuality, and the possibilities marginalized by hegemonic modernity.