Author Joseph Allen Tetlow, SJ, is the former director of Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Dallas, TX, where he gave retreats and workshops. He previously served for eight years in Rome as head of the Secretariat for Ignatian Spirituality, guiding the efforts of 250 Jesuit retreat houses and editing the Review of Ignatian Spirituality.
Born in New Orleans in 1930, Tetlow began seminary training just after World War II, completing licentiates in both Philosophy and Theology from Pontifical Faculties. His doctoral work in American social and intellectual history at Brown University focused on the development of American Catholic spirituality.
Tetlow has been a professor of theology at St. Louis University and associate editor of the Catholic weekly America. He was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola in New Orleans, founding executive secretary of the U.S. Jesuit Conference in Washington, D.C., and President of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. As Director of Tertianship (the final period of Jesuit formation) he also acted as spiritual director to the clergy of the Austin Diocese.
He has written numerous articles, including a commentary in America on the full cycle of Sunday readings, and has lectured around the world. Tetlow’s books include Ignatius Loyola: Spiritual Exercises and Making Choices in Christ, a compendium of the foundational theology of Christian decision-making. His guide for making St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises, Choosing Christ in the World, has been translated into a number of languages.
Related Links
Discernment in a Nutshell
By Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ
The basics: spirits, feelings, and why they are useful.
The Two Standards
By Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ
The Spiritual Exercises’ Meditation on the Two Standards invites a choice of standing with Jesus or with the way of the world.
Application of the Senses
By Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ
Tetlow explains the Ignatian idea of application of the senses in prayer.
The Language of the Cross
By Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ
Tetlow explores the idea that Jesus’ Passion brings us to embrace the world as it really is.
From Ashes to Glory
Tetlow leads readers in a way of praying the Examen through Lent.
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Blog posts about Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ.
Videos Featuring Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ
Tetlow shares his wisdom on the Spiritual Exercises and more.
