ABSTRACT
Here is a book of paradox, and, to many readers, the author himself represents a paradox. Dr Meissner serves two professional masters, two of the most powerful cultural figures of the last 400 years, St Ignatius and Sigmund Freud; he is a Jesuit priest, and he is a Professor of Psychoanalysis at Boston College. I imagine he is unique. Without his profound immersion in both his disciplines, he would never have brought off the achievement which this book is; with it he has produced a vivid, detailed and scholarly study of an extraordinary character, Ignatius of Loyola, who in his own life and character manifested many paradoxes. As I got deeper into the book, I was increasingly gripped by it, so alive is the portrait of a remarkable and charismatic man. I even felt by the end that he was, after all, rather lovable; through most of the book I had felt impatient, amazed, admiring, aggravated, and moved by turns, but rarely stirred to affection. I cannot help wondering if Dr Meissner heaved a sigh of relief as he laid 312down his pen: there are massive sources for the Life, he had set himself a formidable task, and because of the intellectual and emotional requirements of both his professions, he must have been conscious of balancing on a tightrope throughout most of his journey.
