Skip to content Skip to navigation
University of Warwick
  • Study
  • |
  • Research
  • |
  • Business
  • |
  • Alumni
  • |
  • News
  • |
  • About

University of Warwick
Publications service & WRAP

Highlight your research

  • WRAP
    • Home
    • Search WRAP
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse WRAP by Year
    • Browse WRAP by Subject
    • Browse WRAP by Department
    • Browse WRAP by Funder
    • Browse Theses by Department
  • Publications Service
    • Home
    • Search Publications Service
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse Publications service by Year
    • Browse Publications service by Subject
    • Browse Publications service by Department
    • Browse Publications service by Funder
  • Help & Advice
University of Warwick

The Library

  • Login
  • Admin

Mystery-driven institutionalism : the Jesuit spiritual exercises as a book of practices leading nowhere

Tools
- Tools
+ Tools

Bento da Silva, Jose and Quattrone, Paolo (2021) Mystery-driven institutionalism : the Jesuit spiritual exercises as a book of practices leading nowhere. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 71 . pp. 145-164. doi:10.1108/S0733-558X20200000071006 ISSN 0733-558X.

[img]
Preview
PDF
WRAP-mystery-driven-institutionalism-Jesuit-spiritual-exercises-book-practices-leading-nowhere-BentodaSilva-2020.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer.

Download (1034Kb) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20200000071006

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

This paper discusses how mystery was imprinted into the Jesuit Spiritual Exercises, supporting their diffusion across space and time. It shows that the book of the Spiritual Exercises is a practice in itself and fosters a practice or set of practices. The book is more than an object: it is an action, unleashed not by the specification of what actions it dictates but by the mystery the “book-as-practice” carries. The paper contributes to the literature on practice-driven institutionalism, namely by showing how mystery furthers our understanding of the mutual constitution of practices and institutions. The Spiritual Exercises have been practiced for more than four centuries, even though their meaning is not stable and they are never fully understood. Therefore, our paper asks: how do the Jesuits understand what they have to do if the book does not prescribe everything? The authors argue that it is indeed this mystery that distinguishes religious practices, explaining their endurance across time and space and, henceforth, their institutionalization. The authors show that the Spiritual Exercises are to be practiced and it is this practicing that allows them to diffuse and institutionalize a new understanding of how the individual relates to God. “God’s will” is searched through the practicing, without ever being determined by the practice. It is by practicing the book that the mystery of “God’s will” reveals itself. Moreover, “God’s will” is never known or knowable. Instead, it is embodied and felt while practicing the book of the Exercises. Emotions thus reconcile, through mystery, the book and the practicing of it. Our paper contributes to practice-driven institutionalism by showing how mystery can drive institutionalization processes.

Item Type: Journal Article
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Journal or Publication Title: Research in the Sociology of Organizations
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
ISBN: 9781800434172
ISSN: 0733-558X
Book Title: Research in the Sociology of Organizations
Official Date: 12 January 2021
Dates:
DateEvent
12 January 2021Published
15 June 2020Accepted
Volume: 71
Page Range: pp. 145-164
DOI: 10.1108/S0733-558X20200000071006
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit: 23 June 2020
Date of first compliant Open Access: 21 October 2020
Related URLs:
  • Publisher

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

twitter

Email us: wrap@warwick.ac.uk
Contact Details
About Us