The African Theologian and the Theological Ministry of the Society of Jesus: An Interview with Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach

Abstract

Peter-Hans Kolvenbach: In the first generation of Jesuits, all was done in the spirit of ‘mission.’ Not only was Francis Xavier sent on a mission in Asia, but theologians were sent to the Council of Trent and Peter Canisius to teach theology in German and Austrian universities. They considered their tasks not as a work to achieve, a job to handle, but as a mission entrusted to them by the Vicar of Christ on earth so as to help the Church to grow in oneness with the Lord and to solve the problems it had to face. The first Jesuit theologians were known for their apostolic mobility and availability. They knew how to enlist, as was said about them, scientific erudition and missionary pietas learned and holy men. Later on, when the Society started to take up the responsibility of colleges and universities, the mobility diminished but the awareness remained of accomplishing a mission based on solid and open-minded learning in answer to the needs of the people, according to the incarnated spirituality of the Spiritual Exercises.