Jesuit Britain?

Leopoldo Prieto López and José Luis Cendejas Bueno’s anthology, Projections of Spanish Jesuit Scholasticism on British Thought, is an important new contribution to the recovery of this late Scholastic heritage. As the title indicates, the focus is on the Jesuit representatives of late Scholasticism specifically. Most of the essays in the volume pay special attention to Francisco Suárez (1548–1617), though there is also much of interest on other Spanish Jesuits, such as José de Acosta (1540–1600) and Juan de Mariana (1536–1624). On the British side, John Locke (1632–1704) perhaps has the starring role, though several other important thinkers are treated, including Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Algernon Sidney (1622–1683), and Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859). Bringing the story closer to the present day, there is even a treatment of Scholastic influences on Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953), though given his Catholicism, Scholastic influence is less surprising here than it is in the case of the other (Protestant) writers.