This book is at once both fascinating and, in some ways at least, frustrating. J. Michelle Molina sets out to transform our conceptions of the origins of the modern self, both temporally and geographically. She accomplishes a great deal in this challenging and provocative study, but, at the same time, she perhaps tries to do too much in this roughly 200-page monograph. In essence, she argues that the modern self emerged both sooner and in different areas than the traditional narrative would have us believe. In particular, Molina shifts the focus of the origins of this “modern” development from northern to southern Europe, and from protestant to Catholic regions. In addition, while changes in southern, Catholic culture were important, so too were those in overseas mission areas, especially New Spain. Two of the proposed driving motors of these transformations are clear from the subtitle of the book: The Jesuit Ethic and Spirit of Global Expansion, 1520–1767. Thus, Molina's research and insights expand upon several recent historiographical trends in early modern studies, particularly those relating to the role of the nascent Society of Jesus as a significant spiritual and cultural force, especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as the process of globalization, specifically as seen here in the global missionary expansion of the Iberian empires. At the heart of all this, according to Molina, were the spirituality of the Jesuits and the diffusion of their spiritual practices in parts of Europe, especially Spain and Italy, and in the overseas missions, perhaps most of all in New Spain.

Molina devotes a lot of attention to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. She is certainly correct that Ignatius derived many of his insights from monastic/medieval spirituality and, perhaps more indirectly, from classical sources. Yet he combined this wide range of collective psychological and spiritual wisdom with his own profound experiences and insights, producing a manual designed to encourage self-knowledge, which, in tandem with divine grace, would lead to spiritual transformation. It seems clear that the Spiritual Exercises did have a transforming effect on many of the Jesuits themselves and on significant numbers of individuals with whom they worked. Yet whether this had quite the impact on the contemporary collective consciousness regarding the “self” that Molina contends is open to question.

At the same time, she advances early modern studies on several fronts, such as with her helpful caveat that “we do not fall prey to predefined dichotomies” (66). While she was focusing at that point on gender studies and the danger of too simplistic a divide regarding male and female approaches to spirituality, this theme of unhelpful if not misleading dichotomies appears throughout this study concerning such issues as local/global, urban/rural, aristocrat/commoner, individual/communal, self/other, contemplation/action, and body/soul or physical/spiritual.

Molina sees the Spiritual Exercises as helping to break down some of these dichotomies, in particular by emphasizing a connection between one's body and one's mind and spirit. As a particularly relevant example, Ignatius encourages the practitioner to employ the “application of the senses,” i.e., to use all five senses so as to enter as fully as possible into a biblical passage, to place oneself within the scene in order to make it come alive as one listens to and perhaps speaks personally to Jesus and is touched by his loving, healing presence. In relation to the exercises, especially to the theme of the “First Week” of acknowledging oneself as a loved sinner, the Jesuits promoted various confessional practices such as the examination of conscience and the general confession, designed to encourage self-discovery—and repentance. According to the author, these techniques, “particularly the general confession and the examination of conscience, drew heavily upon narrative practices that fostered a new, individualized sense of spiritual selfhood” (129). While this is an important insight, there is a danger here of overemphasizing how “new” all of this was in the long history of Christian spirituality, as well as how widespread these practices became, whether in Europe or overseas.

Another development in early modern Catholic spirituality that the Jesuits became associated with and very much promoted was the devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus. This, too, flowed from the spiritual exercises, especially the “Fourth Week,” with its focus on resurrection and new life, and the capstone exercise, the “Contemplation to Attain Love.” Through all of this the paradox was that self-negation was a necessary prelude and foundation in the process of self-formation. It is also a more explicitly spiritual process, as opposed to the more (at least implicitly) secular process supposedly at work in the traditional understanding of the emergence of the modern self.

As stated at the outset of this review, Molina's study is an ambitious one and it is replete with insights. It touches on aspects of history, religion/spirituality, philosophy, psychology, and interrelated areas such as culture studies. While the finished product is in many ways impressive, the author tries to cover too much terrain, resulting in a book that is not always easy to read because complex questions and developments are sometimes explained in ways that can seem a bit too tidy. While the influence and impact of other individuals and movements (such as Descartes and the Enlightenment) can certainly be exaggerated or skewed, Molina may overemphasize the collective impact of Catholic/Jesuit spirituality and Hispanic culture—as significant as these may have been—in the supposed emergence of a modern Western/world consciousness.