In 1534, Ignatius Loyola organized a group of religious colleagues at the University of Paris to form the Society of Jesus. Better known as the Jesuits, member priests and brothers adhere to their founder's meditative practices, the Spiritual Exercises, and lead contemplative lives centered on active service rather than subdued monasticism. From the University of Paris onward, the order has engaged in academic instruction, religious and humanistic curricular development, and college administration. To this day, the Jesuits maintain various educational institutions worldwide. In the United States alone, there are twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and universities—all of which were originally rooted in the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum (method of studies) of 1599 and reinforced by the order's constitutions. These academies were further enhanced by influential mantras that prompted clerics to adapt curriculum and instruction by means of contextual considerations. These all-important Jesuit phrases include: cura personalis (care for the whole person), magis (to do more), nuestro modo de procedor (our way of preceding), and, as regards the art of speech and writing, eloquentia perfecta (perfect eloquence). This last maxim encompasses the rhetorical goal of producing educated men and women who can better serve society by successfully communicating important and complex ideas to those they encounter outside of the collegiate realm.

In Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Rhetorical Studies, edited by Cinthia Gannett and John C. Brereton, a bevy of scholars have come together to present eloquentia perfecta within the larger scheme of Jesuit higher education. Heralding from public, private, religious, and secular institutions, authors weigh in on the evolutionary and modern importance of rhetoric as a means to unify field-specific subject matter via interdisciplinary thought and articulated synthesis. Indeed, the book's central and well-supported argument is that “rhetoric . . . offers a means of overcoming the scattered dispersed curriculum that characterizes so much contemporary higher education. Rhetoric was never only a discipline: It can act as a transdiscipline, a means of paying close attention to language, to making meaning, to connecting ideas with words across academic and social contexts” (xviii). As such, individual chapters provide in-depth explorations surrounding the need for enhanced rhetorical instruction both inside and outside of Jesuit higher education. As a whole, the book's multiple authors clearly and convincingly express that eloquentia perfecta should serve as a steadfast methodological core that can better help students problem solve and make mental connections across academic disciplines. Through quality writing and oration, pupils craft arguments that not only serve to hone individual thought and better communication skills, but also to enlighten those outside of college walls by means of print publication and discursive engagement.

To precisely elucidate the historical promulgation and present usefulness of eloquentia perfecta, Traditions of Eloquence is organized into three sections (not including an introduction and afterword that “bookend” the manuscript with important historiography and future recommendations). Part 1 devotes ample attention to the undergirding ideological concepts that shaped the Society of Jesus and its method of rhetorical instruction. Tendering analysis of Loyola's personal educational experiences (language, philosophy, theology, etc.) and the development of seminal Jesuit texts such as the Spiritual Exercises and The Autobiography of St. Ignatius Loyola, chapter authors unpack essential concepts needed for anyone who wishes to further investigate Jesuit pedagogical history. Additionally, this section provides important accounts of the role of women in Jesuit higher education and the evolution of rhetorical instruction from the seventeenth century until the twenty-first century, which is significant given the various temporal ages and cultural contexts that have shaped religious practices and classroom teaching.

Part 2 does much to shed light on the deleterious effects of the order's late eighteenth-century papal suppression and early nineteenth-century resurrection. While describing the suppression, authors in this section detail how the suppression influenced Jesuit instruction and, in many ways, prompted the Jesuits to expand their higher education presence across the United States post resurrection. Here the text focuses on American developments including the transference of European rhetorical techniques and the Society of Jesus's protracted attempts to modernize curricula. Indeed, as the Jesuits in the United States evolved alongside the “American” ethos of progress and professional development, chapter authors explain how the order struggled to adapt to a changing society more interested in job attainment than metaphysical debates and eloquent orations. Still, chapters in this section dedicate substantial attention to mental liberation and social equality apropos the writings of Paulo Freire. Authors argue that by paring Freirean pedagogy with eloquentia perfecta, college students may attain a greater understanding of the need to promote social justice in all aspects of life and learning. In short, eloquentia perfecta has the potential to mold “scholar practitioners” by capitalizing on yet another Jesuit motto, “contemplatives in action.” Fundamentally, rhetoric has the potential to go beyond words and thoughts to affect deeds and motivate action. To illustrate this, the final section allows readers, by means of institutional cases, biographical vignettes, and modern instruction enhanced by technology and social diverse learning environments, to glimpse eloquentia perfecta in practice both as it has been done and how it could be performed in the years to come.

Paired with such texts as A Jesuit Education Reader: Contemporary Writings on the Jesuit Mission in Education, Principles, the Issue of Catholic Identity, Practical Applications of the Ignatian Way, and More, edited by George W, Traub (Loyola, 2008), and Jesuit Education and the Classics, edited by Edmund P. Cueva, Shannon N. Byrne, and Frederick Benda (Cambridge Scholars, 2009), Traditions of Eloquence goes far to bolster the argument that liberal arts instruction, in conjunction with professional curricula and spiritual/philosophical reflection, is essential to shape new generations of leaders and thinkers. While the book as a whole is a fascinating read and bold endeavor, Christian educators, Catholic historians, and Jesuit scholars will find this edited volume useful as it allows for subject-specific investigation, easily accessible notes and references, and practical applicability within the larger scope of religious higher education scholarship.