The Way to Ultimate Meaning in the Mystical Theology of St. John of the Cross

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-227
Author(s):  
Larry Cooley
Keyword(s):  
The Cross ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
John Of The Cross ◽  
The Way

scholarly journals St. John of the Cross and the Monopolar Concept of God in the Abrahamic Religions in Spain

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 372
Author(s):  
Daniel Dombrowski
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Concept Of God ◽  
Charles Hartshorne ◽  
Abrahamic Religions ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
John Of The Cross

The aim of this article is to philosophically explore the tension between “the God of the philosophers” and “the God of religious experience.” This exploration will focus on the mystical theology of the 16th c. Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross. It will be argued that a satisfactory resolution of the aforementioned tension cannot occur on the basis of the monopolar theism that has dominated the Abrahamic religions. That is, a better understanding of mystics in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can occur via dipolar theism as articulated by contemporary process philosophers in the Abrahamic religions, especially the thought of Charles Hartshorne.

scholarly journals “O Sweet Cautery”: John of the Cross and the Healing of the Natural World

Horizons ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-331
Author(s):  
Mary Frohlich
Keyword(s):  
Human Person ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Divine Love ◽  
Presence Of God ◽  
Full Capacity ◽  
The Cross ◽  
John Of The Cross ◽  
The Web ◽  
Lengthy Process ◽  
The Way

Contrary to what may appear in a superficial understanding of his spirituality, John of the Cross strongly affirms the goodness of creation and its capacity to mediate the presence of God. He specifically identifies the web of mutual interactions among creatures as a primary manifestation of divine love, and he affirms that the more a person participates in God, the more he or she participates fully and joyfully in this community of creatures. Activation of creation's full capacity to mediate divinity, however, depends on the full fruition of the human person in God. Experientially, this involves a lengthy process of a back-and-forth rhythm between the glimpse of God in creation and the complete renunciation of dependence on creaturely knowledge in favor of faith. John's writings invite us to participate in the healing of the natural world by pursuing this contemplative rhythm all the way to its fruitional climax.

scholarly journals Sublime Communion and the Costs of Evolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-38
Author(s):  
Denis Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Important Resource ◽  
What Is Said ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
John Of The Cross ◽  
Theological Understanding

Both the crisis of life on our planet and major developments in the sciences demand a rethinking of the theological understanding of the human in relationship to the rest of the natural world. Since Pope Francis’s theology of sublime communion provides an important resource for this work, the first section of the article analyses what is said of this communion in Laudato Si’. In the second section, a critical theological issue is raised, one not dealt with in the encyclical, concerning the costs of evolution: the pain, predation, violence, death, and extinction built into the natural world. In the last two sections, it is proposed that the word sublime that Pope Francis uses is capable of embracing the harsh side of creation, through a brief survey of the distinction between beauty and the sublime in philosophical aesthetics, and then through an exploration of the use of the word sublime in the mystical theology of John of the Cross.

scholarly journals Różne stany doskonałości. Proboszcz z Ambricourt według Bernanosa i Bressona

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 165-173
Author(s):  
Maciej Gorczyński
Keyword(s):  
Film Studies ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Dark Night ◽  
Saint John ◽  
The Senses ◽  
The Cross ◽  
John Of The Cross ◽  
The Way

Different state of perfectness. The priest from Ambricourt according to Bernanos and BressonIn the paper the author draws a comparison between Georges Bernanosʼ Journal d’un curé de campagne The diary of a country priest, and Robert Bresson’s adaptation of the book. The aim of the comparison is to show, how different artistic principles affected the way the holiness is presented. The author claims that it is not actually holiness, but a peculiar state, which Saint John of the Cross called Dark Night of the Senses. The paper represents fields of literary studies, and film studies.

Faith and Ethical Reasoning in the Mystical Theology of St John of the Cross: A Reasonable Christian Mysticism

1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Sanderlin
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Growth ◽  
Ethical Reasoning ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
Christian Mysticism ◽  
Dark Night ◽  
Advanced Stages ◽  
Union With God ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
John Of The Cross

It is often said that Christian mystics and contemplatives deemphasize reason, especially during advanced stages of spiritual growth such as union with God. St John of the Cross insists that to be united with God in this life through faith, we must empty our intellect of all comprehensions of God in a dark night of unknowing. According to Zwi Werblowsky, John's teaching on faith means the annihilation of the intellect. Werblowsky distinguishes between cognitive and anti–cognitive mysticism, and calls John's mysticism anti–cognitive. According to Werblowsky, cognitive mysticism values distinct, detailed knowledge from divine sources about divine or human realities, while anti–cognitive mysticism rejects such supernatural knowledge as an obstacle to union with God.

The Cross of the Living Lord: The Theology of the Cross and Mysticism

1996 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franceen (Vann) Neufeld
Keyword(s):  
Martin Luther ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Hebrew Scriptures ◽  
Mystical Tradition ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
John Of The Cross ◽  
Evangelical Theology

The theology of the cross, that ‘thin tradition’ stretching back through Luther and Augustine and Paul to find its origins in the Hebrew Scriptures themselves, has often been counterposed to the thicker, yet equally long, tradition of mysticism. In recent years, however, distinctions between these traditions have been expressed less categorically. It is now generally recognized that mysticism cannot be regarded as a single phenomenon. Rather, an understanding of diversity within the mystical tradition is foundational to an adequate appreciation of the richness, not only of mysticism, but of the theology of the cross as well. Ecumenical concerns have provided an incentive for discovering complexities in both traditions, and for breaking down the artificial barriers of long-held prejudices. This may make it possible to perceive ‘mystical theology in Martin Luther and evangelical theology in John of the Cross’.

Conclusions

Savoring God ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 167-182
Author(s):  
Gloria Maité Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
The Cross ◽  
John Of The Cross ◽  
The Way

The last chapter explores some insights taken from the comparisons as they address questions crucial to modern readers and humanity scholars. John of the Cross and the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theologians had in mind an “ideal reader” who would invest all her emotions and intellect into the act of reading. For John, this is a reader who knows how to “savor” the text and the “divine truths” contained within it. The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theologians envision a reader who reads “with the heart,” a sahṛdaya. Although these expectations may differ from those of modern readers who approach these texts through a comparative theopoetic lens, we can still ask what the qualities of a modern “ideal reader” are. What could today’s scholars and teachers learn from these Early Modern ways of reading and teaching how to read? And how might their practices of theopoetic impact the way we read and compare texts?

scholarly journals The Way of the Mystic: The Sanjuanist stages of the spiritual path

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia Kourie
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Spiritual Journey ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Dark Night ◽  
Spiritual Path ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Spiritual Marriage ◽  
John Of The Cross ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Way

A major conceptual dynamic in all major religious traditions is the need for purification and transformation of the individual in order to effect integration and maturation of the personality in the divine. Although the means by which this purification takes place differs according to the cultural and religious configurations of any given tradition, nevertheless a recurring image is that of an inner and outer odyssey. A major example is the threefold path of John of the Cross, which presents a psycho-spiritual journey by which ‘divine osmosis’ can be realised, passing through the ‘dark night of the soul’, and culminating in ‘spiritual marriage’. Although not accepted by many theoreticians and practitioners of mysticism, nevertheless the value of the Sanjuanist schemata still holds sway in contemporary society.

scholarly journals Ramón Xirau: la verdad en la poesía y la pertinencia filosófica de las imágenes

2009 ◽  
pp. 27-31
Author(s):  
Isabel Cabrera
Keyword(s):  
Jorge Luis Borges ◽  
The Cross ◽  
John Of The Cross ◽  
The Way

Xirau is a philosopher who is always seeking the union between philosophical arguments and poetical images. He is seduced by the eloquence and the persuasiveness of images. In this paper I briefly analyze four examples, two from literature to philosophy (John of the Cross and Jorge Luis Borges), and two from philosophy to literature (Wittgenstein and Nietzsche). All of them show the way Xirau finds metaphysics behind poetry, and poetry behind metaphysics.

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