It was one of the great encounters of world history: highly educated European priests confronting Chinese culture for the first time in the modern era. This “journey to the East” is explored by Brockey as he retraces the path of the Jesuit missionaries who sailed from Portugal to China.

"Since its founding by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, the Society of Jesus ("The Jesuits") has been intimately involved in the unfolding of the modern world. The young Jesuit order played a crucial role in the Counter Reformation, especially in Poland, southern Germany, and several other parts of Europe. The Jesuits were also participants in the establishment and spread of European empires, engaging in missionary activity in east and south Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries, and becoming central to the spreading of Christianity in the New World. At the same time, Jesuits often tangled with the Roman curia and the Pope, leading to the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773. After the subsequent restoration of the order in 1814, the Jesuits continued to be leaders in Catholic education and theology. In 2013 Jorge Bergoglio became the first Jesuit Pope, taking the name Pope Francis I. In this book, Markus Friedrich presents the first comprehensive account of the Jesuits from a non-Catholic perspective. Drawing on his expertise as a historian of the early modern world, Friedrich situates the Jesuit order within the wider perspective of European history. In particular, he places the Jesuits in the context of social, cultural, and imperial history, showing that the Jesuits were not monolithic but rather were very sensitive to local context and that the order's core texts, especially Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises, were templates to engage with, rather than instructions manuals to be followed slavishly"--

Through its missionary, pedagogical, and scientific accomplishments, the Society of Jesus-known as the Jesuits-became one of the first institutions with a truly "global" reach, in practice and intention. The Oxford Handbook of the Jesuits offers a critical assessment of the Order, helping to chart new directions for research at a time when there is renewed interest in Jesuit studies. In particular, the Handbook examines their resilient dynamism and innovative spirit, grounded in Catholic theology and Christian spirituality, but also profoundly rooted in society and cultural institutions. It also explores Jesuit contributions to education, the arts, politics, and theology, among others. The volume is organized in seven major sections, totaling forty articles, on the Order's foundation and administration, the theological underpinnings of its activities, the Jesuit involvement with secular culture, missiology, the Order's contributions to the arts and sciences, the suppression the Order endured in the 18th century, and finally, the restoration. The volume also looks at the way the Jesuit Order is changing, including becoming more non-European and ethnically diverse, with its members increasingly interested in engaging society in addition to traditional pastoral duties.

Founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) has been praised as a saintly god-send and condemned as the work of Satan. With some 600 entries written by 110 authors - those inside and outside the order - this encyclopedia opens up the complexities of Jesuit history and explores the current life and work of this Catholic religious order and its global vocation. Approximately 230 entries are biographies, focusing on key people in Jesuit history, while the majority of the entries focus on Jesuit ideals, concepts, terminology, places, institutions, and events. With some 70 illustrations highlighting the centrality of visual images in Jesuit life, this encyclopedia is a comprehensive volume providing accessible and authoritative coverage of the Jesuits' life and work across the continents during the last five centuries.