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Negative Theology and Desire in Spiritual Transformation According to John of the Cross

Bibliographic Data

ID3479802
AuthorsEdward William Howells (Christian Spirituality, Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford OX44 9EX, UK), Edward Howells (0000-0002-6156-9845, Ripon College Cuddesdon, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume14
Issue1
Pages6
Publication date2022-12-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel14010006
OpenAlexW4313470122
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited10

Desire is central to John of the Cross' treatment of the mystical ascent to God. He holds that God is desire and that there is a meeting between human and divine desire in the state of union with God, which is the goal. But it is less clear how this desire is to be understood against John's programmatic negation of desire on the spiritual journey in both its sensory and spiritual forms, according to his negative theology. He regards the lack of satisfaction of desire, which he expresses in terms of darkness and emptiness, as the main manifestation of desire in the process of spiritual transformation. The question arises as to where he locates the meeting between human desire and divine desire, when they seem to be only opposed to one another. The answer lies in the gradual uncovering, through this process, of what is happening beneath the presenting experience of desire, in the human soul's constitution as the subject. Desire is transformed, but in a way that can be affirmed only at the level of this transformation of the subject. This article examines how John of the Cross understands the relationship between desire and negative theology

Aesthetics · Constitution · Emptiness · Epistemology · Mysticism · Negation · Religious experience · Sociology · Soul · Spiritual practice · Spirituality · Theology · Karl Barth and Christian Theology · Law · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Psychology · Theology and Philosophy of Evil

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Unique citing works1
Citations per year0,33
Citation span2023 - 2023 (1)
Citation velocityhistorical
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 1

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