Biography:
Patrick C. Goujon is Professor of Theology and History of Christianity (Early Modern Period) at the Facultés Loyola Paris (Centre Sèvres), where he was also Dean of Studies for 9 years. He has also given lectures on Jesuit history at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS-Paris) with Pierre Antoine Fabre.
The history of early modern Jesuit spirituality and mysticism is his main area of research. After completing his doctorate at the EHESS (history) and the Facultés Loyola Paris (theology) on the correspondence of Jean-Joseph Surin (a 17th-century French Jesuit, exorcist, spiritual director and writer), P.C. Goujon focused on the history of Jesuit spiritual direction from Ignatius of Loyola to recent developments. He then went on to expand his research into the birth of modern spiritual literature and the meditation books of the Jesuits.
Now that he has been appointed editor-in-chief of Recherches de Science Religieuse, he is working on a more general theological theme: what is the "spiritual desire" that drives human beings to be attached to Jesus Christ?
P. C Goujon is one of the leading figures in the Catholic Church in France against sexual abuse.
Educational Background:
P. C. Goujon graduated in French Literature at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Fontenay Saint-Cloud (1990) and at the Sorbonne Nouvelle Université. After a thesis on Jean de la Fontaine's fables and law and justice in the 17th century (supervised by C. Biet and P. Dandrey), he moved on to a study of narrative in Jesuit casuistry with A. Viala.
After entering the Society of Jesus (1996) and his studies in theology (BA, MA), he wrote his doctoral thesis in history under Pierre Antoine Fabre at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes (Paris), published in 2008 (Prendre part à l'intransmissible. La correspondance de J.-J. Surin).
Associate member of CéSoR - EHESS (Centre d'études en Sciences Sociales du Religieux), regularly invited to the GRIHL-EHESS/Paris Nouvelle Sorbonne (Groupe de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur l'histoire du littéraire), P.C. Goujon obtained his Habilitation in French Literature. His approach to spiritual and mystical literature has always been interdisciplinary, in the spirit of his late colleague Paul Mommaers SJ.
Research Area(s):
Historical and Systematic Theology, History of Christianity.
Research Interests:
History of spirituality and mysticism in Early Modern Age, History of Jesuit spirituality.
Editorships:
Chief Editor of Recherches de Science Religieuse (Paris).
Current Projects:
He is currently writing a book on the “spiritual desire” to be attached to Jesus Christ.
Current Students:
Doctoral students (Facultés Loyola Paris) on Foucault and Christian Ethics and Mysticism, Jesuit Spirituality (16th to 21st century), Michel de Certeau.
Recent Publications:
Precarious. A Survivor of Clerical Abuse Remembers, 2024, Georgetown University Press (Original in French, translations in Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian).
Counsels of the Holy Spirit. A Reading of St Ignatius’s letters, Messenger, 2021 (original in French 2017, translations in Portugese (Br.), 2022, Spanish (2025).
La Compagnie de Jésus. Des Anciens Régimes au Monde Contemporain, P. A. Fabre, M. Morales, P. Goujon (ed.), IHSJ, Ecole Française de Rome, 2020.
Les Politiques de l’âme. Direction spirituelle et jésuites français à l’époque moderne, Classiques Garnier, 2019.
Suppression et Restauration de la Compagnie de Jésus, 1773-1814, avec P. A. Fabre, Lessius, 2014.
Prendre part à l’intransmissible. La communication spirituelle dans la correspondance de J.-J. Surin, Jérôme Millon, 2008.
Links:
https://www.loyolaparis.fr/enseignant/patrick-goujon/.
