In A Jewish Jesuit in the Eastern Mediterranean, Robert Clines retraces the conversion and missionary career of Giovanni Battista Eliano, the only Jewish-born member of the Society of Jesus. He highlights the lived experience of conversion, and how converts dealt with others’ skepticism of their motives. Clines uses Eliano’s personal letters, missionary reports, and autobiography, together with scholarship on conversion in the early modern Mediterranean, world to illustrate how false and sincere conversion often mirrored each other in outward performance. Devout converts were not readily taken at face value and needed to prove themselves in the moment and over the course of their lifetimes. Consequently, Eliano’s story underscores that the mystical, introspective nature of religious belief and the formulation of new spiritual selves came into direct confrontation with the ways in which converts needed to present themselves to others in an age of political and religious turmoil.
Praise for A Jewish Jesuit in the Eastern Mediterranean
“a valuable contribution to our understanding of that intricate nexus of conversion and missionary work in the early modern eastern Mediterranean.” – Richard Calis, University of Cambridge
“at the hands of such an able story teller as Clines, Eliano’s activities as a missionary offer a rich and suggestive case study for those who want to understand what was at stake for those who underwent religious conversion (and tried to convert others) at this time.” – Simon Ditchfield, University of York
“an engagingly written work of topnotch historical research that grapples with important questions about conversion and religious identity in new and imaginative ways.” – Eric R. Dursteler, Brigham Young University
“Clines tells a remarkable story.” – Paul Grendler, University of Toronto
“Clines presents a study of conversion that will interest academics and the general audience alike.” – Dana E. Katz, Reed College
“In examining how Eliano crossed many borders of faith, region, and community, Clines also shows us more broadly how to see early modern selfhood.” – Emily Michelson, University of St Andrews
Robert Clines, Ph.D. 