Metaphors for Metamorphosis: The Poetics of Kenosis and the Apophasis of Self in Saint John of the Cross
Religions April 1, 2025 DOI: 10.3390/rel16040455 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Poetics Saint Metamorphosis Art history Literature Poetry Botany Larva |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that John of the Cross's poetic metaphors of metamorphosis engender cognitive dissonance that facilitates the reader's movement toward divine union, mirroring Christological kenosis and apophatic mysticism. |
Abstract
Spanish mystic Saint Juan (John) of the Cross (1542–1591) began writing poetry while imprisoned by his own monastic order. He developed manuals for contemplation, in part, in the form of commentaries on his principal poems. Their first-person narrators were women who underwent metamorphoses in order to pursue love: one became a dove in her despair; another became flame itself; the last disguised herself as a knight. Juan explained that all three represented the soul that is seeking God. For readers, these metaphors could engender cognitive dissonance, through which they might step outside of themselves and move closer to union with the Divine. This process of human self-emptying and self-negation mirrored the self-emptying (kenosis) of Christ in traditional Christology and the negation (apophasis) of human pretense at knowledge about God in apophatic (“negative”) mysticism.