John J. Navone S.J. (born October 19, 1930 – died December 25, 2016) was an American Jesuit priest, theologian, philosopher, educator, author, raconteur, and Professor Emeritus of Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. Having reached the mandatory age, he retired from the Gregorian, returned to the Society's Oregon Province, and taught at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
Early life John Joseph Navone was born in Seattle on 19 October 1930, the son of Giacomo "Jack" Navone and Juliet Micheli Navone. At the time of his birth, his father was not yet a US citizen, so Navone has dual citizenship in the United States and Italy (and therefore the European Union). He has five siblings: Joseph, James, George, Helen, and Catherine. He received his primary education at St. Anne School. His first three years of high school were spent at O'Dea High School, operated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. He transferred to the Jesuit Seattle Preparatory School for his senior year, graduating from there in 1948.Navone, John J. SJ. The Land and the Spirit of Italy . New York: Legas 1996
Education
Navone matriculated at Seattle University his freshman year before entering the Jesuit novitiate of St. Francis Xavier at Sheridan, Oregon on 14 August 1949 and studied there for four years. The next step of his education was at the Mount St. Michael Philosophate, then a Jesuit seminary associated with Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
He received his master's degree in philosophy from Gonzaga in 1956. From 1959 to 1963 he studied theology at Regis College, University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario. From 1963 until 2009, he resided in Rome, where he received his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1966Navone, John J. SJ. The Jesus Story: Our Life as Story in Christ. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1979 Back Cover. His doctoral dissertation, History and Faith in the Thought of Dr. Alan Richardson, was published in 1966 by the SCM Press, London, marking the first time a Catholic doctoral dissertation was published by this Anglican - Protestant press.SCM Catalog of Publications, 1966 The book appeared in the Contemporary Theology Series to which Barr, Macquarrie, Moltmann, Ogden and Torrance contributed.
Academic career From 1956 until 1959, he taught Latin, French, German, and sociology at Seattle Preparatory School.
Navone began teaching biblical theology at the Gregorian University in 1967, spending his career in that department. He also taught courses in theology of history, narrative theology, and the theology and spirituality of beauty.
His interests in research, writing, and teaching never led him to an official administrative position at the Gregorian, but in the earlier years of his tenure there, the university lacked a formal organization for institutional development, and Navone began informal work along those lines. Because of his outgoing personality, he soon became an unofficial spokesperson for the university, particularly with the American media. These activities led to relationships with various bureau chiefs which in turn led to a number of articles in the media concerning "the Greg". These articles often contained comments made by Navone.Navone, John J. SJ. Seeking God in Story. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1990 Back Cover
Navone made significant and relatively early contributions to the discipline of narrative theology. Leading sociologist Andrew Greeley wrote:
"There are, it seems to me, three tendencies in contemporary American Catholic theology, two positive and one disgraceful ... The second tendency, linked closely to the first in basic themes, but very different from it in approach is "story theology" or "narrative theology" with its paradigm of religious experience, religious symbol and religious story. John Navone and John Shea are the best known and the best practitioners. Their work is compatible with and accessible to some of the most exciting developments in American social scientific and humanistic thinking at the present time and has immediate practical implications for homiletics, catechetics and apologetics. Story theology is the greatest and, I think, most important theological development of our time and will so be judged for decades and centuries to come."Greeley, Andrew. Overview Exclusive – A Sociologist on Theology May 1983
Navone's seminal work and collaboration with Catholic theologian Johann Baptist Metz on narrative theology, also called "The Theology of Story", have led to several Catholic and Protestant seminaries worldwide using his books as theology textbooks.Navone, John J, SJ. Tellers of the Word (New York: Lejacq, 1981) Flyleaf.
As of 2010, Navone has involved himself with teaching a course of Thomistic philosophy and theology for the Catholic Studies program of the History Department of Gonzaga University, where he serves as an adjunct professor. in the spring of 2010, he taught a course on Leadership and Spirituality for the Professional Leadership Department at Gonzaga.Krug, Julie. "Beholder of Beauty: Dynamic Jesuit Scholar encourages others to see the positives that life offers" Spokane Spokesman Review, 21 June 2008
Navone's book Tellers of the Word was Americas Book of the Month Club selection for May 1981.
Religious career Navone entered the Society of Jesus in 1949 and was ordained in 1962.
Of Navone's twenty-three books, five have been associated with the development of narrative theology and the work of Bernard Lonergan, his teacher and eventual colleague at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Two of his most recent books have won recognition in both Europe and the United States for his contribution to the theology and spirituality of beauty. Gesa E Thiessen [Theological Aesthetics: A Reader (London: SCM, 2004)] ranks Navone among 95 contributors to this field from the time of Justin Martyr in 165. Edward Farley of Vanderbilt University Divinity School calls attention to Navone's work in this field as one of the "five significant twentieth-century Catholic theologies of beauty" in his book Faith and Beauty: A theological Aesthetic (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2001), pp. 74–81.
Navone was in Rome for the final years of Vatican II and was acquainted with many of the participants, including the observers from the Church of England.
Navone was keynote speaker at the Anglican clergy conference at St. George's House, Windsor Castle, England, Dec. 4 to 8, 1978. He addressed the 50 Anglican priests daily on "Communicating Christ", a subject which is the title of his book published in 1976.Singleton, Ronald. "Author Makes Mark on Anglicans" The Universe, London, 15 December 1978."The Oregon Exchange", The National Jesuit News, V. 8, No. 6, March 1979
Quotations in major media
Quotation in Pope Francis' 2013 book, Papa Francesco: Il Nuovo Papa si Racconta
(Translation from Italian) "It (patience) is a theme that I (Pope Francis) have pondered over the years after my having read the book of John Navone, an Italian American author, with the striking title, The Theology of Failure, in which he explains how Jesus lived patiently. In the experience of limits, he (Pope Francis) adds, patience is forged in dialogue with human limits/limitations. There are times when our lives do not call so much for our "doing" as for our "enduring," for bearing up (from the Greek hypomone) with our own limitations and those of others. Being patient – he explains – means accepting the fact that it takes time to mature and develop. Living with patience allows for time to integrate and shape our lives."
Quotations in Time magazine
Friendship with Gore Vidal Father Navone developed a friendship with author Gore Vidal during his years in Rome. When Time magazine did a cover article on Vidal, the friendship was mentioned:
"Vidal seems to delight in the company of clerics. One of the people he dines with in Rome is American Jesuit John Navone, a theologian at the Pontifical Gregorian University. When Navone once brought a group of visiting Jesuits to Vidal's apartment, Vidal greeted them with the question "Out for a night in Transylvania?" On another occasion, at dinner, Vidal teased Navone: "Now, John, tell us what your idea of heaven is…all about those angels." Navone gently replied: "There are no harps. We are already there. Heaven is communicating with friends." Moved, Vidal had nothing to say.Time, 1 March 1976
Satanism From Time cover story "Satan Returns".Time, 19 June 1971
Jesuit theologian John Navone of Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, who held a "Devil Day" at the Gregorian recently to discuss the theology of the Devil, so far is not seriously alarmed by the recrudescence of Satanism. In modern Devil cults, he argues, the Devil "is more often a type of magician playmate, the product of a Playboy culture rather than the malign personal being found in Scripture. These cults tend to use the Devil for a type of arcane amusement; whereas the unamusing Devil that appears in Scripture manages to use men for his dark purposes."
In Search of a Pope From Time cover story "In Search of a Pope":Time, 21 August 1978
Father Navone, an American who teaches at the Jesuits' Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, says such perplexities "no longer can be solved by a one-man fiat. The new Pope must avail himself of the wisdom of the church by calling a Vatican III to resolve the monumental doctrinal, disciplinary and moral problems."
Who Was Jesus? From Time cover story "Who was Jesus"Time, 15 August 1988
Says Father John Navone of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome: "A kind of intellectualist bias has grown up: unless you are aware of the very latest academic theory about the Bible, you might as well not read it. The result is a dangerous gap between the thinking of elite universities and the beliefs of thriving congregations."
Quotation in Life Magazine
A Wind of Change Father Navone as quoted in Life Magazine:Hughes, Eileen Lanouette. "A Wind of Change" Life, 7 July 1960
For the "Greg," as its students calls it, is the Church's Oxbridge, Sorbonne and Yale-Harvard, all combined in one. The Greg's Father John Navone calls it "the Crucible of Catholicism." It is the university for any seminarian who aspires to prestige and power in the Church: of today's cardinals, 35 percent attended the Gregorian; so did the last eight Popes.
Who The Devil Is Father Navone wrote in his Life article:Navone, John SJ. "Who the Devil Is" Life, June 1989
"In traditional theology, the devil is a malfunctioning, deranged angel. Devils are a category of angels that slipped. There is a radical distinction there. They don't think right. They don't love right. Something that was created good went wrong. I think the basic Catholic does believe that there is a real devil and there are real devils."
Quotations in The Times Father Navone was featured in a 1989 Times article:Boyes, Roger. "Crisis for Catholicism", The Times, 11 March 1989.
Under the guise of obedience to the US church—which is so tolerant of those who criticize basic items of faith—they (dissidents) can attack teaching from Rome, and still appear to be good Catholics. As Father John Navone, of the Gregorian University of Rome says, this will have the effect of eliminating from theology all Vatican teaching that is not declared infallible. Theologians are in effect putting themselves above the church.
The Pope is now calling his theologians to order. Dissent is feasible, even under this Pope, but it has to be loyal. "To do the opposite," says Father Navone, "to prize dissent and contradiction for their own sake, is often to author theology that is immediately appealing, but is likely to die on the vine. In the long term the church will simply not recognize it as its own."