Testing Ground for Jesuit Accomodation

Description

In the present work, Testing Ground for Jesuit Accommodation in Early Modern India Antony Mecherry SJ explores the underlying dynamics of the accommodation experiments led by Francisco Ros SJ (1559–1624)—a Catalonian from the Jesuit province of Aragón—in the cultural and religious terrain of Malabar, where he worked principally among the region’s Christian communities. Mecherry’s historical analysis becomes an interpretative key to understanding the later mission launched by Roberto de Nobili SJ (1577–1656), the main proponent of accommodation in the non-Christian context of Madurai in South India. Most importantly, the study underscores the Jesuit mission in early modern India as the crucial intersecting point for some of the most prominent promoters of accommodation in the first century of the Society of Jesus, including Alessandro Valignano (1539–1606) and Matteo Ricci (1552–1610).