The Manresa Method
An Ignatian Approach to Philosophy, Jungian Psychology, and the Enneagram
- Prayer & Spiritual Formation
- Philosophy
- Publisher: Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
Inspired by Ignatius Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, this book explores what Stephen Costello calls the Manresa Method of self-examination, imagination, and contemplation. Beginning with St Ignatius’s Formula of the Institute and Constitutions, this book outlines the charism of the Society of Jesus before accompanying the Basque saint on his travels as relayed through his Autobiography and Spiritual Diary. Topics and themes treated include consolation, desolation, conversion, and consciousness as refracted through the lenses of philosophers (Plato, Boethius, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Simone Weil, Eric Voegelin, Bernard Lonergan, and Charles Taylor), depth-psychologists (C. G. Jung, Ira Progoff, and James Hillman), theologians (Romano Guardini, Karl Rahner, Anthony de Mello, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin), mystics (St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Ávila), a poet (Gerard Manley Hopkins), an economist (E. F. Schumacher), a painter (Salvador Dalí), and a Jesuit Pope (Francis). The Enneagram system receives extensive treatment to show its compatibility with Christianity. This work, which can be read as a companion volume to Costello’s Ignatian Mysticism, will be of immense interest to those exploring the space between contemporary philosophy, Jungian psychoanalysis, and spirituality (Ignatian and Carmelite).
Endorsements (1)
“In The Manresa Method, Stephen Costello achieves something rare and profound. Here is a symphonic dialogue between philosophy, psychology, and the Ignatian spiritual tradition. In these pages, we find brilliant meditations on a constellation of writers, but at the center is the spiritual genius of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This is no dry tome but a lively and enlivening adventure for thought. I loved reading and pondering the wisdom it offers and especially appreciated the unforced interweaving of the insights of so many fine minds. With the keen eye of a philosopher and a wealth of experience as an analyst, Costello offers us a work that is both rigorous and immediately useful to those who are after a fresh perspective on a life of true interior freedom.”
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