Jesuits, Conspiracies, and Conspiracy Theories Introduction

This introductory article explores the thematic affinity linking the Society of Jesus with conspiracies and conspiracy theories. After giving a short overview of the historiography devoted to antiJesuitism, it draws attention to how antiJesuits vilified the order over the centuries on the basis of alleged conspiracies whose extent varied from the episodic to the all-encompassing and that were imagined and posited in ways that tended to be themselves highly conspiratorial. In this manner, it foregrounds aspects of antiJesuitism and conspiracy theories that will recur in the individual contributions to this special issue of the Journal of Jesuit Studies.