The Biblical Mysticism of John of the Cross*
B. McGinn
Medieval Mystical Theology July 3, 2018 DOI: 10.1080/20465726.2018.1545655 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that John of the Cross's mysticism is fundamentally biblical, despite his lack of formal biblical commentaries. The author contends that John drew on the spiritual interpretation of scripture, particularly Psalm 136 in a prison poem and the Song of Songs in the 'Canciones entre el Alma y el Esposo,' to guide his mystical teaching. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT In the Prologue to his Ascent of Mount Carmel John of the Cross mentions the three sources of his mystical teaching–experience, theological science, and scripture – noting that scripture is his fundamental guide. Perhaps because he did not write formal biblical commentaries, it has not been sufficiently recognized that John’s mysticism is fundamentally mystical. This article presents several examples of how the Spanish mystic used the spiritual interpretation of the Bible to guide his mystical teaching, concentrating on the interpretation of Psalm 136 (Super flumina Babylonis) in one of his prison-poems, and the re-writing of the Song of Songs in his ‘Canciones entre el Alma y el Esposo.’
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |