James Martin (Jesuit writer)
Encyclopedia
James J. Martin, born 29 December 1960, is a Jesuit priest, writer and Culture Editor of the Jesuit magazine America
.
, United States
, and attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School
. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
's Wharton School of Business in 1982 and worked in corporate finance at General Electric
for six years. Dissatisfied with the corporate world, he became more deeply involved in the Catholic Church and decided to enter the Society of Jesus
(more commonly known as the Jesuits) in 1988 and was ordained a priest in 1999. In addition to his work at America Magazine, Fr. Martin has written or edited more than 10 books, many of which are largely about his own experiences. He is a frequent commentator for CNN
, NPR
, FoxNews, Time Magazine, and other news outlets, and has written several op-ed pieces and blogged for The New York Times
.
. His involvement with the LAByrinth Theater Company
's 2005 stage production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
, and featuring Sam Rockwell
, John Ortiz
, Eric Bogosian
, and Callie Thorne
, is the subject of Martin's book, A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Center Stage with Jesus
, Judas
, and Life's Big Questions (LoyolaPress., 2007). Publishers Weekly
, which gave the book a coveted starred review, named A Jesuit Off-Broadway one of the Best Books of 2007.
's The Colbert Report to discuss Mother Teresa
's fifty-year long sense of abandonment by God
which had much coverage in the media at the time. During the interview, Stephen Colbert
jokingly asked Father Martin if Mother Teresa's "crisis of faith" had earned her, in his words, "a table for one...by the Lake of Fire." Since then, Father Martin has appeared five more times on The Colbert Report, once to discuss Pope Benedict XVI
's visit to the U.S. in April, 2008, and again on February 23, 2009 to discuss how poverty (or, at least, reducing the importance one places on material goods) can bring one closer to God. In his introduction of Father Martin on the February 23rd show, Stephen Colbert promoted Martin from "friend of the show" to "The Colbert Report chaplain." On March 18, 2010, Father Martin was invited to the program in the wake of Glenn Beck's suggesting that Catholics run away from priests who preach "social justice." Father Martin noted that "social justice addresses the things that keep people poor" and "asks you why are these people poor." He added that "Christ asked us to work with the poor.... In the Gospel of Matthew he says that the way that we're going to be judged at the end of our lives is not what Church we prayed in or how we prayed but really, you know, how we treated the poor." On August 10th, 2011, Father Martin appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss God's "approval rating" and to promote his book The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life. On November 9th, 2011, he appeared once again to promote his book concerning humor and religion: Between Heaven and Mirth.
in the entertainment industry. He argues that, despite an irresistible fascination with the Catholic Church, the entertainment industry also holds the most obvious contempt for the Catholic Church. He suggests that, "It is as if producers, directors, playwrights and filmmakers feel obliged to establish their intellectual bona fides by trumpeting their differences with the institution that holds them in such thrall."
as one of the "Best Books of the Year" and was the winner of a 2007 Christopher Award
.
In May, 2007, he received an honorary doctor of divinity
degree from Wagner College
in Staten Island, NY.
Martin has also edited the following books:
His essays are included the following:
Father Martin provided an afterword for:
America (magazine)
America is a national weekly magazine published by the American Jesuits that contains news and opinion about Catholicism and how it relates to American politics and cultural life....
.
Education and Career
Martin grew up in Plymouth Meeting, PennsylvaniaPlymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania
Plymouth Meeting is a census-designated place in the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the northern terminus of the "Blue Route" and the southern terminus of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension . The population was 6,177 at the 2010 census...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School
Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School
Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School is a high school in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Colonial School District, with a current enrollment of approximately 1,600 students.- PWHS Principal :...
. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
's Wharton School of Business in 1982 and worked in corporate finance at General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
for six years. Dissatisfied with the corporate world, he became more deeply involved in the Catholic Church and decided to enter the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
(more commonly known as the Jesuits) in 1988 and was ordained a priest in 1999. In addition to his work at America Magazine, Fr. Martin has written or edited more than 10 books, many of which are largely about his own experiences. He is a frequent commentator for CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, FoxNews, Time Magazine, and other news outlets, and has written several op-ed pieces and blogged for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Theatre
Martin is a member of the LAByrinth Theater CompanyLAByrinth Theater Company
LAByrinth Theater Company is a non-profit, Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City.An inclusive, multicultural ensemble of almost 100 established and emerging theater artists led by Artistic Directors Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O'Donnell and Yul Vasquez, LAByrinth Theater Company...
. His involvement with the LAByrinth Theater Company
LAByrinth Theater Company
LAByrinth Theater Company is a non-profit, Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City.An inclusive, multicultural ensemble of almost 100 established and emerging theater artists led by Artistic Directors Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O'Donnell and Yul Vasquez, LAByrinth Theater Company...
's 2005 stage production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Stephen Adly Guirgis is an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. He is a member and co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States....
, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
, and featuring Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
, John Ortiz
John Ortiz
John Ortiz is an American actor and Artistic Director/Co-Founder of LAByrinth Theater Company.-Career:In 1993, John made his film debut as Al Pacino’s young cousin ‘Guajiro’ in Carlito’s Way. He went on to appear in over 30 films including El Cantante, Take the Lead, Before Night Falls, Amistad,...
, Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
, and Callie Thorne
Callie Thorne
Calliope "Callie" Thorne is an American actress known for her current role as Dr. Dani Santino on the USA Network series Necessary Roughness...
, is the subject of Martin's book, A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Center Stage with Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, Judas
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
, and Life's Big Questions (LoyolaPress., 2007). Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
, which gave the book a coveted starred review, named A Jesuit Off-Broadway one of the Best Books of 2007.
The Colbert Report Chaplain
On September 13, 2007, Father Martin appeared on Comedy CentralComedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's The Colbert Report to discuss Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
's fifty-year long sense of abandonment by God
Dark Night of the Soul
Dark Night of the Soul is a treatise by Saint John of the Cross containing a commentary explaining his poem of the same name.-Poem and treatise by Saint John of the Cross:...
which had much coverage in the media at the time. During the interview, Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
jokingly asked Father Martin if Mother Teresa's "crisis of faith" had earned her, in his words, "a table for one...by the Lake of Fire." Since then, Father Martin has appeared five more times on The Colbert Report, once to discuss Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
's visit to the U.S. in April, 2008, and again on February 23, 2009 to discuss how poverty (or, at least, reducing the importance one places on material goods) can bring one closer to God. In his introduction of Father Martin on the February 23rd show, Stephen Colbert promoted Martin from "friend of the show" to "The Colbert Report chaplain." On March 18, 2010, Father Martin was invited to the program in the wake of Glenn Beck's suggesting that Catholics run away from priests who preach "social justice." Father Martin noted that "social justice addresses the things that keep people poor" and "asks you why are these people poor." He added that "Christ asked us to work with the poor.... In the Gospel of Matthew he says that the way that we're going to be judged at the end of our lives is not what Church we prayed in or how we prayed but really, you know, how we treated the poor." On August 10th, 2011, Father Martin appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss God's "approval rating" and to promote his book The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life. On November 9th, 2011, he appeared once again to promote his book concerning humor and religion: Between Heaven and Mirth.
Anti-Catholicism
Martin has written about anti-CatholicismAnti-Catholicism in the United States
Strong political and theological positions hostile to the Catholic Church and its followers was prominent among Protestants in Britain and Germany from the Protestant Reformation onwards. Immigrants brought them to the American colonies. Two types of anti-Catholic rhetoric existed in colonial society...
in the entertainment industry. He argues that, despite an irresistible fascination with the Catholic Church, the entertainment industry also holds the most obvious contempt for the Catholic Church. He suggests that, "It is as if producers, directors, playwrights and filmmakers feel obliged to establish their intellectual bona fides by trumpeting their differences with the institution that holds them in such thrall."
Awards
Father Martin's best known book, My Life with the Saints (2006), was named by Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
as one of the "Best Books of the Year" and was the winner of a 2007 Christopher Award
Christopher Award
The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
.
In May, 2007, he received an honorary doctor of divinity
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
degree from Wagner College
Wagner College
Wagner College is a private, co-educational, national liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 total students located atop Grymes Hill in New York City's borough of Staten Island...
in Staten Island, NY.
Publications
Martin's books include:- This Our Exile: A Spiritual Journey with the Refugees of East Africa (Orbis Books, 1999), which tells of Martin's experiences in the early 1990s working with the Jesuit Refugee ServiceJesuit Refugee ServiceThe Jesuit Refugee Service is an international Catholic organization that aids refugees, forcibly displaced peoples, and asylum seekers. JRS operates at national and regional levels. Founded in November, 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on March 19, 2000 in...
in NairobiNairobiNairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and helping East African refugees start small businesses. - In Good Company: The Fast Track from the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity and Obedience (Sheed & Ward, 2000), which is the story of Martin's call to the priesthood and the early days of his Jesuit vocation. "In Good Company" has been translated into several languages, including Spanish and German.
- Searching for God at Ground Zero (Sheed & Ward, 2002), which contains Martin's reflections on God, evil, love and hope as he ministered to rescue workers at Ground Zero in the days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
- Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas MertonThomas MertonThomas Merton, O.C.S.O. was a 20th century Anglo-American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion...
and Other Saints (Paulist Press, 2006) tells the story of the influence the writings of Catholic spiritual writers Thomas MertonThomas MertonThomas Merton, O.C.S.O. was a 20th century Anglo-American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion...
and Henri NouwenHenri NouwenHenri Jozef Machiel Nouwen , was a Dutch-born Catholic priest and writer who authored 40 books about spirituality.- Writing :...
have had on Martin's life. - My Life with the Saints (Loyola Press., 2006), Martin's memoir, chronicling the lives of some (very human) Catholic saints and other holy men and women and how they have touched and guided his life.
- Lourdes Diary: Seven Days at the Grotto of Massabieille (LoyolaPress., 2006), a touching and humorous account of a pilgrimage to LourdesLourdesLourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
. - A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Center Stage with JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, JudasJudas IscariotJudas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
, and Life's Big Questions (LoyolaPress., 2007). - The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life (Harper One., 2010), Father Martin explains how Jesuit founder St. Ignatius of Loyola helps people with practical spirituality.
- Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life (HarperOne 2011) Looks at the connection and relationship between humor, joy, and faith.
Martin has also edited the following books:
- How Can I Find God? The Famous and Not-So-Famous Consider the Quintessential Question (Triumph Books, 1997).
- Professions of Faith: Living and Working as a Catholic (with Jeremy Langford) (Sheed & Ward, 2002).
- Awake My Soul: Contemporary Catholics on Traditional Devotions (LoyolaPress., 2004).
- Celebrating Good Liturgy: A Guide to the Ministries of the Mass (LoyolaPress., 2005).
His essays are included the following:
- I Like Being an American, edited by Michael Leach (Doubleday, 2003)
- Sixty Things to Do When You Turn Sixty (Sellers Publishing, Inc., 2006), in which Father Martin exhorts readers to "Be a Saint!"
Father Martin provided an afterword for:
- The Fifth Week, (2nd Edition) by Fr. William O'Malley, S.J. (Loyola Press, 1996).