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This article aims to outline a panoramic view of the paths taken by researchers, in the last 15 years, in the field of the religious history of the Modern Period in Portugal. Starting from the identification of the scientific production and activities that have achieved a more relevant place in the framework of the study of the religious history in early modern Portugal, since the 1950s, this article draws attention to a set of subjects that urgently need to be debated. It will be argued that research in the area in question continues to constitute a challenge. The focus of this article is the European space of Portugal, not considering productions and research about Portuguese imperial spaces, namely Asia and Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of ideas offers many testimonies to how spiritual experience is born out of the rich imagination of sages, prophets, philosophers, theologians, religious reformers, or mystics. The rich imagination created a broad ground for the development of different kinds of religious or spiritual life. But at the same time, certain religious phenomena that at first sight appear identical show themselves in their differences when they are embedded in their own contexts. The paper traces such cases (especially through the topic of motherhood as an attribute of God or the original nature of human being) against the background of early Christian thought, the spirituality of man in the Carolingian period, and the theological-mystical attitudes in Middle Ages. At the same time, however, it also reflects on how these phenomena are projected into the experiences of contemporary man, which are often secular and non-theological, yet seek to retain an aspect of spirituality that is partially derived from past religious-anthropological experiences, but also supplemented with new elements.

The development of theology over the centuries of the Church's life and activity is accomplished through publications. They express the theologians' positions, opinions and hypotheses. Among Polish theological journals, "Collectanea Theologica", which has its origins in Lviv ("Przegląd Teologiczny"), plays a special role. Though it is connected with the Warsaw theological environment, it not only covers Poland but also goes beyond its borders, as evidenced by the foreign publications and foreign-language authors. Undoubtedly, this journal has become a very serious and rich source of and platform for the development of the theology of spirituality. Its existence is connected with the independence of this branch of the theology, and therefore from the beginning of its existence we find in the journal highly valuable and serious materials on spirituality. The analysis of the publications, which are the result of research conducted over a hundred years, allows us to conclude that we are dealing with an unusual and multidirectional wealth. It should be stated that the publications present an interdisciplinary nature of the research conducted. The study outlines the main directions of the development of the theology of spirituality and their documentation. It can be said that these publications reflect theological trends in the universal Church. Both the documents of the Church and of the popes as well as the events became an inspiration for the authors. Historical, social and even political events were not without their significance and influence. Of particular importance is the development of native Polish theology, having its own specificity and contributing richly to the life of the whole universal Church. We define such a achievement as the "Polish school of spirituality". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J. P. Roothaan (1785-1853) is considered as «The General of the Spiritual Exercises», due to his significant role in the Ignatian and the Jesuit history. In the following pages his person and his work related to the Exercises are reviewed. At the outset, some information is given with regard to the state of the Exercises until the suppression of the Society of Jesus (1773). After its restoration (1814), Fr. General Roothaan promoted the study and practice of the Exercises especially among the Jesuits since 1829. His notable contribution was to recover the so called Autograph text, as its editor and annotator. Although it is deemed as rationalist and literalist, his version certainly enriched the closest text of Ignatius of Loyola with linguistic and spiritual annotations. It became the most used version until the mid-twentieth century. He also promoted a pastoral dimension of the Exercises from an ecclesial perspective, which continued with great creativity and vigor during the twentieth century.

This article offers a retrospective on the last thirty years of scholarship on medieval mystics. After surveying some recent resources, such as Bernard McGinn's multivolume history, the Companions to Christian Mysticism, and the journal Spiritus, it discusses the varied approaches of late-twentieth and early-twenty-first century work, notably the material turn and the linguistic turn. The former, embracing studies of the body and gender, emotions and eroticism, art and material objects, reacts against earlier conceptions of mysticism as concerned exclusively with the timeless, invisible, and transcendent dimension of human existence. Feminist scholarship, queer theory, history of the emotions, and the study of visual culture have all figured prominently, while the relationship between mysticism and political activism is identified as an area ripe for further study. Complementing the material turn, the linguistic turn has brought new interest in apophatic theology in the wake of Derridean deconstruction, but also entails fresh work on vernacular mystics and the role of vernacularity in disseminating spiritual wisdom. The essay closes with an account of imaginative theology and a call for more reading across linguistic and disciplinary boundaries, as well as the artificial boundary between sacred and secular writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates meditations (both Catholic and Protestant) that are considered relevant textual representations of the devotional culture in the Early Modern Age. Studying the reception and use of patristic and mediaeval texts of devotional character in the early modern period, the article states that a close connection may be observed between early modern devotional culture on the one hand, and the patristic and mediaeval tradition on the other. Through analysis of the sources, the researcher can observe that the breach between the mediaeval church and the churches of the Reformation is much less abrupt and definitive than is often assumed. Particularly, the devotio moderna forms an important bridge between the Middle Ages and the later Baroque age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay the author studying the life of Giacomo Cusmano (1834-1888) - founder of the Bite of the Poor, a religious congregation dedicated to helping the poor -, tries to see through the embroiled history of spirituality and theology of the saints, being very careful to never untangle the two planes which are closely linked together. Looking after the poor and fighting every form of poverty, Cusmano looked at everything and at everybody through the illuminated eyes of the evangelical message, transfiguring what today we could call with Pope Francis, a culture of rejection into a culture based on solidarity. In this way he elaborated what can be considered a theology of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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