John Navone

John J. Navone S.J. (born October 19, 1930 – died December 25, 2016) was a 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, WA.

John Joseph Navone was born in Seattle, WA 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 matriculated at Seattle University his freshman year before entering the Jesuit novitiate of St. Francis Xavier at Sheridan, OR 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, WA.

John J. 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.

He received his master's degree in philosophy from Gonzaga in 1956.

In 1956 through 1959, he taught Latin, French, German, and Sociology at Seattle Preparatory School.

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 1966 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.

The book appeared in the Contemporary Theology Series to which Barr, Macquarrie, Moltmann, Ogden and Torrance contributed.

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 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."

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.

He addressed the 50 Anglican priests daily on "Communicating Christ", a subject which is the title of his book published in 1976.

Father Navone has been quoted in books and major media, which illuminates his career as a theologian as well as his love for people, the humanities, and nature.

(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."

Navone was keynote speaker at the Anglican clergy conference at St. George's House, Windsor Castle, England, Dec. 4 to 8, 1978.

Navone's book Tellers of the Word was America’s Book of the Month Club selection for May 1981.

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.

He forged friendships that led to the writing and publication of several of his books during these years.

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.

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.