Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
JesuiticalFebruary 14, 2025
A painting of Julian of Norwich by Stephen Reid, 1912. (Wikimedia Commons)

On “Jesuitical” this week, Zac and Ashley chat with Simon Critchley, the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York and a Director of the Onassis Foundation, about his new book, Mysticism. Among the most prolific of modern academic philosophers, Simon has written over twenty books, from works of philosophy to studies on topics from Greek tragedy and dead philosophers to David Bowie, football and suicide.

Zac, Ashley and Simon discuss: 

  • The historical development of the concept of “mysticism,” how it was suppressed during the Reformation and its resurgent relevance for today.
  • Emotionally-charged forms of piety in the high Middle Ages among women mystics like Julian of Norwich
  • How modern mysticism can provide access to the sacred and transcendent in a melancholic world

In Signs of the Times, Zac is joined by Sam Sawyer, S.J., editor-in-chief of America, for a conversation about Pope Francis’ strongly worded letter of support to the Catholic bishops of the United States in which he denounced the mass deportation of undocumented migrants initiated by President Donald Trump, and corrected Vice President JD Vance’s theology. 

Links for further reading: 

What’s on tap?
Gin Martini

You can follow us on X and on Instagram @jesuiticalshow.
You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/jesuitical. 
Please consider supporting Jesuitical by becoming a digital subscriber to America Media at americamagazine.org/subscribe

The latest from america

Pope Leo XIV has appointed the French archbishop of Chambéry, Thibault Verny, as the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. He succeeds Cardinal Seán O’Malley, 81, the emeritus archbishop of Boston.
Gerard O’ConnellJuly 05, 2025
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with other members of the House July 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington after final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill. (OSV News photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
“Deep cuts” to SNAP and Medicaid will “inflict real suffering on these families…. SNAP and Medicaid are not luxuries, they are lifelines for millions of children across our country.”
Kevin ClarkeJuly 03, 2025
It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children.
The Vatican has named the judges that will preside over the trial of disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.