Oliva Blanchette held a doctorate from Laval University in Quebec and taught philosophy for many years at Boston College. Past president of the Metaphysical Society of America and the International Society for Metaphysics, he translated several books by Maurice Blondel.James Colbert has a doctorate from the University of Navarre in Spain. He taught philosophy at Boston State College and Fitchburg State University. He has translated a number of books by Étienne Gilson.

• Thoughts on the Dialectic of the Spiritual ExercisesOliva Blanchette and James ColbertList of FiguresPrefacePostscriptIntroduction1 Division of the Exercises1 How to Make the Four Weeks Coincide with the Three Ways?2 Deduction of the Divisions of the Exercisespart 1: Before the Act of Freedom2 Positing Non-being: Week One3 Negation of the Positing of Non-being: Week Two1 The Three Degrees of HumilityPart 2: Passage from the Before to the AfterIntroduction to Part 24 The Election1 Preamble to the Election2 Introduction concerning the Things about Which Election Must Be Made3 The Three Times of the Election4 Two Ways of Making Election in the Third Time (Numbers 178–188)5 For the Amendment and Reform of One’s Own Life and Condition (Number 189)Part 3: After the Act of FreedomIntroduction to Part 35 Exclusion of All Non-being: Third Week1 The Growth of the Exclusion of Non-being2 Passage from the Third to the Fourth Moment: Triduum Mortis3 Application to the Act of Freedom6 Positing of Being: Fourth Week1 Application to the Act of Freedom2 Growth of the Positing of the Being3 The Disappearance of the Positing of Being: AscensionConclusion: The Contemplatio Ad Amorem Obtinendum1 First Point2 Second Point3 Third Point4 Fourth Point5 SuscipeCircularity of the Exercises and Circularity of Absolute Knowledge: From Ignatius to Hegel through HölderlinAfterword1 Essay on Constructing a Geometrical Scheme of the Exercises2 Division of the Exercises3 PerspectivesAppendix: Rules for the Discernment of Spirits1 Rules for the First Week (Numbers 313–327)2 Rules for the Second Week (Numbers 328–336)Further Study of the Ignatian MaximHaec sit prima agendorum regula: sic Deo fide, quasi rerum successus omnis a te, nihil a Deo ponderet; ita tamen iis omnem operam admove, quasi tu nihil, Deus omnia solus sit facturusSection 1: Sources of the Traditional MaximSection 2: Structure of Maxim Number 2Section 3: The Objections against the Traditional MaximSection 4: The Secret of These ObjectionsFiguresFigures 1–10Figures 14–19Figures 20–29Elogium SepulcraleIndex