Patrick Goujon, SJ, a theology professor at l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and Centre Sèvres in Paris, has a written a new history of the changes to French Jesuits’ spiritual direction in the 17th century. Les politiques de l’âme: direction spirituelle et jésuites français à l’époque moderne has been published by Classiques Garnier as part the 57th title in its “Lire le xviie siècle” collection.
Goujoin argues that the Jesuits’ introduction of devotional reading into spiritual conversations de-emphasized the subjectivity then inherent to the existing process in favor of a “more passive spiritual practice aimed at obedience to a guide.”
The title is available at the publisher’s website. The book has a citation, with additional information, at the Jesuit Online Bibliography.