Javier Melloni Ribas is an Italian-Catalan
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
and
theologian
Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
.
Biography
Javier Melloni Ribas was born in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
in 1962; his mother is Catalan and his father, Italian.
At 18 he joined the
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...
He became a Jesuit priest, graduated with a degree in cultural anthropology and obtained a PhD inTheology. He currently lives in the
Cueva de San Ignacio in
Manresa
Manresa () is the capital of Bages county, located in the central region of Catalonia, Spain.
Crossed by the river Cardener, it is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are arranged aro ...
,
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
.
Career
Melloni is a Jesuit who became interested in the Ignatius spiritual exercises and acquired thorough knowledge of religious texts. He is a member of Cristianisme i Justícia, Spiritual Theology professor in the and in the Institute of Fundamental Theology in Sant Cugat. His specializes in interreligious dialogue and comparative mysticism.
He is on the editorial board of journals such as ''Manresa'' (a journal of Ignatian spirituality) and ''Diagonal'' (a journal of interreligious dialogue). He is the author of essays of different topics focused on spirituality, theology, interreligious dialogue and comparative mysticism. These publications present his theoretical and practical exercises.
Religious perspective
* Interreligious dialogue
Javier Melloni is well known for being a theologian who practices, theorizes and reflects about
interreligious dialogue
Interfaith dialogue, also known as interreligious dialogue, refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the indi ...
.
Melloni proofs the proverb: extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (outside church there is no salvation) This expression was first formulated by St. Cipriano de Cartago(288): it was resumed and strengthen in the fourteenth century by Boniface VIII in his Bull Unam Sanctam (1302), and submits it to the next level distanced from the actual religion in order to
find essential contact points passing through many religions and that raises them in a purely spiritual way. The ultimate goal is to give Javier Melloni that "respect and acceptance of others, reflecting the opening and donation to Another".
Melloni’s theoretical background involves anthropological, sociological, epistemological and theological factors. For him the interreligious dialogue is as a normal dialogue that needs the participants’ willingness to be open-minded and to detach from oneself in order to enable the existence of others.
Based on his ideology, Javier Melloni states that the interreligious dialogue has two main results: 1) the assumption that religious confession leads to mystery and 2) with that assumption people can embrace the spiritual wealth of humanity.
* Comparative Mysticism
Javier Melloni has studied comparative mysticism as a complement to interreligious dialogue. He has established that the profound meaning of religious mysticism does not imply an evasion of the actual world but the opportunity of being self-transformed throughout the most significant religious aspects. Comparative mysticism involves a journey throughout the mystical experiences that every religion has.
[MELLONI, Javier, Voces de la mística I, Herder, Barcelona, 2009]
Work
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References
External links
* http://www.covamanresa.cat
* http://www.sjweb.info/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melloni, Javier
Living people
1962 births