Abstract
The conception of ‘nothingness’ or nada in the writings of John of the Cross is explored here. Though clear elements of kataphatism could be found in John of the Cross, our main focus in this chapter is apophatism in his works. The negative way of John of the Cross is nada, and it is ‘knowledge in unknowing’, where one perceives the limits of the faculties, namely, intellect, memory and will, and goes beyond them in an emptying and darkening ‘way’ of the ‘night’ which gives an idea that ‘no adequate report of its contents can be given in words’. The faculties ‘must undergo a purification of their respective apprehensions in order to reach union with God’, for ‘God has no form or image comprehensible’. The negative way in John of the Cross is ‘the nakedness of the soul bereft of all knowledge’. Though God experience is ineffable, John uses a language to bring home his intent. In this chapter we first look at the conception of ‘nothingness’ in John of the Cross and then proceed in the second part to see the paradox of language in the writings of John of the Cross, which is replete with symbolism and negations. In the third part of the chapter, we analyse the doctrine of three faculties and their darkening, while in the fourth part we take up the key idea of the ‘unknowing’ in the thought of John of the Cross. In the fifth and last part of the chapter, we consider the import of ‘silence’ that we find in John of the Cross.
I entered into unknowing, And there I remained unknowing, Transcending all knowledge.
(John of the Cross, SEC: 53)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
The four major works of John of the Cross mentioned above are called the tetralogy of John of the Cross (Wilhelmsen 1986: 300). I would call them the four treatises or discourses of John of the Cross. They are four distinct works of John of the Cross, but in order to have an understanding of his thought, one has to have a grasp of these four distinct works which act as a compendium of John of the Cross’s corpus, as they are complementary treatises.
- 2.
Johnston writes ‘St. John of the Cross will affirm that God is everything. He is light; he is fullness; He is all; He is the source of being and beauty. In this he would seem to be very opposite of the absolute nothingness about which Oriental mysticism speaks. But (and here again we come against great paradox) while God is light in Himself, He is darkness to us; while He is all in Himself, he is nothing to us; while he is all in fullness, He is emptiness to us’ (Johnston 2003: 121).
- 3.
‘This ‘‘bringer of glad tidings’’ died as he lived, as he taught – not to ‘‘redeem mankind’’ but to demonstrate how one ought to live. What he bequeathed to mankind is his practice: his bearing before judges, before guards, before the accusers and every kind of calumny and mockery – his bearing on the cross. He does not resist, he does not defend his rights, he takes no steps to avert the worst that can happen to him – more, he provokes it. …And he entreats, he suffers, he loves with those, in those who are doing evil to him. His words to the thief on the Cross contain the whole Evangel. ‘‘That was verily a divine man, a child of God!’’ – says the thief. ‘‘If thou feelest this’’ – answers the redeemer – ‘‘thou art in paradise, thou are a child of God.’’ Not to defend oneself, not to grow angry, not to make responsible. … But not to resist even the evil man – to love him…’ (Nietzsche 2003: 159–160).
- 4.
Kenosis is self-emptying. It is an ‘emptying out’. It is ‘a surrender of our prerogatives, real and imagery, as we live with and for others’. This emptying will lead us to discover our true selves (Laporte 1997: 229–230).
- 5.
Nieto opines that John of the Cross takes recourse to the mystical language which is a language of paradox and negation. He writes ‘Mystical experience and knowledge as well the way to achieve them belong to a different kind of world, a world which is not comprehended by the world of common experience, be it of an aesthetic or of a religious nature. Thus, when John attempts to convey the nature and essence of his mystical knowledge and experience, he finds that the religious and aesthetic symbols and terminology he often uses do not adequately convey it. The results of this mystical awareness are expressed by John in the language of universal mysticism which is the language of paradox and negation’ (Nieto 1979: 118).
- 6.
One could find a detailed study on the language of John of the Cross in the fifth chapter of Dombrowski’s St John of the Cross: An Appreciation (Dombrowski 1992: 135–164).
- 7.
The ‘darkness’ is a metaphor in John of the Cross. This is the ‘promise of the night as a path to the Divine presented by John of the Cross, Johann Arndt, John Donne, or Claude Hopil’ (Koslofsky 2011: 279). An exposition of ‘seeking the Lord in the night’ could be seen in this work (Koslofsky 2011: 46–89).
- 8.
‘Its use may be a delicate homage to Teresa of Avila, whose Way of Perfection, … In fact John of the Cross also speaks of ‘‘the way of perfection’’: the image appears as early as the prologue of the Ascent, in the form of both the verb encaminar (to walk along the way) and the noun camino (way)’ (Tavard 1988: 63).
- 9.
John of the Cross says in his SC: ‘The wisdom of the world is ignorance to the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of God is ignorance to the wisdom of the world’ (SC 26, 13: 578), and there is a limit of language.
- 10.
Joseph Palakeel in his The Use of Analogy in Theological Discourse explains it in this way: ‘Analogy is the hermeneutical tool… Analogy also provides the key for understanding and reconciling most theological problems and tendencies, binding together even the mutually excluding alternatives in a unity in diversity, after the model of God-man Jesus Christ, who unites the divine and the human in his theandric person as the concrete analogy and the paradigm for all theology. Not only the God-man relationship, but even the theological, philosophical, cultural and religious pluralism can be reconciled in a wondrous exchange’ (Palakeel 1995: 336). ‘Analogy was introduced into theological discourse by St. Thomas as linguistic-logical alternative to univocal and equivocal speech. It had a double function in theology: to abrogate the scandal of anthropomorphism and overcome the speechlessness of theology. Although the epistemological and metaphysical aspects of analogy were stressed in the subsequent centuries, the post-modern analogy signals a return to the original linguistic nature of analogy’ (Palakeel 1995: 316), and ‘analogy is eminently a linguistic phenomenon. Such a new positive view of language makes God speakable without univocity (anthropomorphism) and equivocity (ineffability), and, thus, resolves the aporia of traditional analogy’ (Palakeel 1995: 317).
- 11.
Explaining this Nieto writes ‘The mystic’s knowledge gained in his experience is paradoxically conveyed as ‘‘no knowledge transcending all knowledge’’ because it is not the type of knowledge that one commonly knows or talks about. It is not factual, informational or ideational knowledge, yet it is knowledge of another kind, transcending all the knowledge one commonly identifies as knowledge’ (Nieto 1979: 120).
- 12.
Foley writes ‘The soul calls these three faculties (intellect, memory and will) ‘‘the deep caverns of feeling’’ because through them and in them it deeply experiences and enjoys the grandeurs of God’s wisdom and excellence’ (F 3, 69)’ (Foley 2002: 144). According to D’Souza, ‘The faculties are the caverns and when these caverns are emptied of their stomachs they are hungry: ‘‘these caverns have deep stomachs, they suffer profoundly; for the food they lack, which as I say is God, is also profound’’ (F 3, xviii). When emptied and purified, ‘‘the intellect, will and memory go out immediately toward God, and the affections, senses, desires and appetites, hope, joy and all the energy from the first instant incline toward God’’ (C 28, v; cfr F 1, xii). This inclination for God is stimulated by the emptiness caused in the faculties through purification’ (D’Souza 1996: 241).
- 13.
Panikkar opined that when we give attributes to God and make God a reality fully confined in our human understanding and comprehension, we contaminate God. He says: ‘… in various degrees, and out of various philosophical and cultural matrices, apophaticism has always sought in one way or another to deny of God any attribution, even that of being, in order not to contaminate God with our own creatureliness’ (Panikkar 1989: 134).
- 14.
The emptiness of memory is needed to reach God. Memory should be void of forms and figures. ‘Since God is formless and figureless, the memory walks safely when empty of form and figure, and it draws closer to God’ (LFL 3, 52: 694–695). Memory makes imaginations. God is unimaginable. Hence the emptying of memory is a must to reach God. John writes ‘The more it leans on the imagination, the farther away it moves from God and the more serious is its danger; for in being what he is – unimaginable – God cannot be grasped by the imagination’ (LFL 3, 52: 695). Imagination makes idols of God. It imagines, phantasises, envisions and constructs a concept of God. Imagination calls God what is not God and ‘thus living an idolatrous life in small and big ways’ (Perrin 1997: 49). Thus, memory and its by-product imagination is a net that does not allow one to know God as God really is. ‘The memory of the old self envisions God in a particular way and believes it possesses God. But the appetite of the memory is for the possession of the truth of God who is not possessible. Therefore, memory must hope for nothing possessible’ (Perrin 1997: 49).
- 15.
John of the Cross would advise that God is absent to human senses and faculties (SC 1, 4: 479), ‘deeply hidden from every mortal eye and every creature’ (SC 1, 5: 480). God ‘is inaccessible and concealed’ (SC 1, 12: 482) and ‘you must always regard him as hidden, and serve him who is hidden in a secret way. Do not be like the many foolish ones who, in their lowly understanding of God, think that when they do not understand, taste, or experience him, he is far away and utterly concealed. The contrary belief would be truer. The less distinct is their understanding of him, the closer they approach him’ (SC 1, 12: 482).
- 16.
The three books of the Ascent of Mount Carmel are dedicated to the active night, while the two of the Dark Night of the Soul deal with the passive night. The Spiritual Canticle also treats these two nights in a broad way. Each one of the spheres undergoes an active and a passive purification. Thus it is that the dark night is divided into four stages: active night of the sense (Ascent, book 1), active night of the spirit (Ascent, book 2 and 3), passive night of the sense (Dark Night, book 1) and the passive night of the spirit (Dark Night, book 2) (Wilhelmsen 1993: 63).
- 17.
The role of intellect and faith in the pursuit of the knowledge of God is the subject matter of the work of Karol Wojtyla titled Faith According to Saint John of the Cross (Wojtyla 1981). In this work we see how the cognitive power of humans which is the ratio in them is touched by the divine, and it is possible only in faith. So Wojtyla emphasises both faith and reason (intellect) fides et ratio in this work.
- 18.
John of the Cross speaks of the intellect, will and memory as ‘the deep caverns of feeling’ (LFL 3, 17: 680). ‘Through them and in them soul deeply experiences and enjoys the grandeur of God’s wisdom and excellence’ (LFL 3, 69: 702). However, ‘in The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Books II and III, John describes what we can do to set our spiritual faculties on the right path. He refers to this moment as the Active Night of the Spirit. During this active night these faculties are emptied of all that would lead the old self away from God. In the emptiness of each faculty arises a deep thirst for God. Each of the three spiritual faculties of the old self must be emptied in a particular way in order to be prepared to receive God’ (Perrin 1997: 46).
- 19.
For a detailed exposition of knowing by unknowing in Thomas Merton’s explanation, see Merton 1991: 37–180, especially 55–66.
- 20.
John of the Cross writes in his prologue just before the beginning of book one of DN: ‘Before embarking on an explanation of these stanzas, we should remember that … Recognizing the narrowness of the path and the fact that so very few tread it – … – the souls’ song in this first stanza is one of happiness in having advanced along it to this perfection of love. Appropriately, this constricted road is called a dark night, as we shall explain in later verses of this stanza’ (DN, prologue before stanza 1: 360).
- 21.
This is taken from the first article after stanza 1 in book one of DN. After the explanation in two articles, John of the Cross begins the chapter 1 of book one (DN: 360–361).
- 22.
John of the Cross writes ‘All the knowledge of God is possible in this life, however extensive it may be, is inadequate, for it is only partial knowledge and very remote. Essential knowledge of him is the real knowledge for which the soul asks here, unsatisfied by these other communications’ (SC 7, 5: 498).
- 23.
In his work, Tavard further speaks of a complementarity of affirmation and negation in the works of John of the Cross. It goes like this: ‘If there exists a domain in which opposites coincide, where contradictions are reabsorbed in some higher synthesis, one is far from the doctrine of John of the Cross. For him there is no higher unity transcending the opposition of todo and nada. Each excludes the other. In an infinitely more radical way than for all ancient and modern gnosticisms, one must, in order to reach all, seek nothing. But to seek nothing is not to look for something that would be, precisely, no-thing; it means, literally, to seek nothing, that is, not to seek. Between all and nothing there cannot be a ‘‘complementarity of mutual affirmation.’’ There is mutual exclusion, or rather, since nothing is real entity, but only the concept of non-entity, there is no relation between all and nothing. In reality, all is enough. The merely imaginative negation of it is called nothing. When John of the Cross speaks of nothing that opposes the all, he does not have in mind something that is, but what which is not, nothingness, nil’ (Tavard 1988: 78–79). Tavard continues ‘ “Two contraries cannot enter into one subject.’’ ’ At face value this looks like a variation on the principle of non-contradiction pertains to the philosophy of being and finds its domain in the area of metaphysics and ontology, the formula of the John of the Cross touches on the practical aspect of existence that could be expressed in popular language: one cannot run after two hares at once! As applied to the requirements of the inner life, this becomes: the soul cannot be filled with concern for God and with its contrary’ (Tavard 1988: 79–80).
- 24.
This is the ladder to the ‘treasures of heaven’ (DN, II, 1: 439). This is the ladder ‘used for ascent and descent’, to ascent to the highest wisdom, and thereby realising the nothingness of oneself, one humbles himself (DN II, 18, 2–4: 439–440). Here are ten steps of the ladder (DN II, 19, 1 – II, 20,6: 440–445), and on the last step, there is ‘clear vision at the top’, ‘where God rests’, and ‘nothing is no longer hidden’ and perfect wisdom is attained by ‘total assimilation’ and realisation (DN II, 20, 6: 445).
- 25.
The term disguised has a signification to silence the three faculties with the three virtues mentioned in the text. The advance is possible in the form of the three theological virtues: faith, hope and charity. Faith ‘blinds the sight of every intellect’ (DN II, 21, 4: 446). Hope gives constant courage in the advance (DN II, 21, 6: 447), and ‘it covers all the senses of a person’s head so they do not become absorbed in any worldly thing’ (DN II, 21, 7: 447) and ‘by which one always gazes on God, looks at nothing else’ (DN II, 21, 8: 447) ‘so empty of all possessions’ (DN II, 21, 9: 448). Charity takes one to God, as there is a genuine self denial: ‘For where there is true love of God, love of self and of one’s own things find no entry’ (DN II, 21, 10: 448). ‘Faith darkens and empties the intellect of all its natural understanding and thereby prepares it for union with the divine wisdom. Hope empties and withdraws the memory from all creature possessions… Charity also empties and annihilates the affections and appetites of the will of whatever is not God and centres them on him alone’ (DN II, 21, 11: 449). Thus, ‘the knowledge by unknowing’ is achieved through faith, hope and charity which are markedly important for a seeker of the highest ‘secret wisdom’ of God.
- 26.
The same could be seen in DN, II, 9,1: 412; DN II, 9, 2: 413; and DN II, 9, 4: 413.
- 27.
Elizabeth Wilhelmsen writes ‘In the thought of John of the Cross there appear three modes of human knowledge or consciousness. The first is a knowledge through creatures, that is, by means of human cognitive, discursive or imaginative powers, and in terms of creatures. It may be compared to the via affirmationis. The second is a knowledge through faith, a knowledge in darkness, and may be considered a type of via negationis. The third, attained only at the highest stages of mystical experience and in the beatific vision, is knowledge through God’s own act of intellection, and may be called in its own way a via eminentiae. These three modes of cognition bear some relation to the stages comprising the mystical ascent, the purgative, illuminative and unitive, without being identical to them’ (Wilhelmsen 1993: 35–36). John of the Cross deals with the first form of knowledge in books 1 and 2 of the Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Spiritual Canticle. There are two channels through which the intellect receives knowledge: natural and supernatural channels. By natural channels the intellect understands by the means of senses and by intellect itself, and by supernatural channel, the knowledge is given to the intellect from above and beyond its natural capacity and ability to get that knowledge (AMC II, 10, 2: 178).
- 28.
AMC II Chapter 10 and 11 deal with knowledge (AMC II, 10, 1–11, 1: 13: 178–184). There is a limit to human faculties, for the sensory part of man has no capacity for that which is beyond the world of appearance, and ‘the bodily sense’ is ‘ignorant of’ the real nature of God (AMC II, 11, 2: 180). The ‘ordinary concepts and language are dependent upon the sentido, the activity of the sensible part of man. For this reason, to express something concerning these acts of cognition they must be compared to ordinary noetic acts following perception’ (Wilhelmsen 1993: 40).
- 29.
Payne writes ‘John does not advocate an inhuman suppression of our natural cognitive powers, nor the pursuit of ignorance or amnesia. His point is rather that during the period of intense mystical union itself, mystics, ‘‘cannot actually advert to any other thing’’ (The Spiritual Canticle 26: xvii – Payne’s translation), because their intellects are being informed by God and are therefore not receptive to being actually informed by the species of creatures’ (Payne 1990: 31). Further, ‘John does not require the annihilation of reason, but only the recognition that what the mystic receives in contemplation cannot be attained by our unaided rational powers’ (Payne 1990: 32).
- 30.
Henri de Lubac writes ‘In the dialectic of the three ways, which gives us access to a human knowledge of God (affirmation, seu position; negation, seu remotio; eminentia, seu transcendentia), the via eminentiae does not, in the last analysis, follow on the via negationis; it demands, inspires, and guides it. Although it comes last, the via eminentiae is covertly the first – superior and anterior to the via affirmationis itself. Although it never assumes a definite form in the eyes of the intelligence, it is always the light and the norm, a cloud of light which shows us the path in the desert of our terrestrial pilgrimage, a hidden power which excites us to pursue objective knowledge and compels us to rectify it. …. That is why we can enter the via negationis and remain in it without fear, once the necessary preliminary affirmations have been left behind. Understood in this way, the via negationis is only negative in appearance or negative of appearances. It other words – and more exactly perhaps – although it is negative and remains negative, it is the very opposite of negation. Negativity is not negation. A ‘‘negative theology,’’ a theology which heaps up negations, is, nevertheless, not a theology of negation. … The affirmation, consequently, remains to triumph in its highest form. It triumphs by negation, which it utilizes as the only means of correcting its own inadequacy’ (Lubec 1996: 122).
- 31.
Nada nada nada y aun en la montana nada’ (nothing, nothing, nothing and even on the mountain nothing (The sketch of the mount in the The Ascent to Mount Carmel has four parts, and the second is the middle path in which the word ‘nada’ (nothing) is repeated seven times. See John of the Cross, 1991: 110–112, and Nicolas 1996: 60–61).
References
Abbreviations of Original Sources
AMC: The Ascent of Mount Carmel. John of the Cross, Saint. (1991). The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 101–349). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
BWB: A Romance on the Psalm ‘By the Waters of Babylon’ (Ps. 137). John of the Cross, Saint. (1991). The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 68–70). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
GSM: A Gloss (with a Spiritual Meaning). John of the Cross, Saint. (1991). The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 71–73). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
L: Letters (of John of the Cross). John of the Cross, Saint. (1991). The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 735–764). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
LFL: The Living Flame of Love. John of the Cross, Saint. (1991). The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 638–715). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
SC: The Spiritual Canticle. John of the Cross, Saint. (1991). The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 461–630). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
SC-CA: The Spiritual Canticle (First Redaction: CA). John of the Cross, Saint. (1991). The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 44–50). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
SC-CB: John of the Cross. (1991). The spiritual canticle (Second Redaction: CB). In The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 73–80). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
SEC: John of the Cross. (1991). Stanzas concerning an Ecstasy experienced in high contemplation. In The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 53–54). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
Other References
Barnstone, W. (1999). To touch the sky: Poems of mystical, spiritual and metaphysical light. New York: New Directions Books.
Brenan, G. (1975). St John of the Cross: His life and poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
D’Souza, R. V. (1996). The Bhagavadgita and St John of the Cross: A comparative study of the dynamism of spiritual growth in the process of god-realisation. Rome: Gregorian University Press.
Dombrowski, D. A. (1992). St. John of the Cross: An appreciation. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Doohan, L. (1995). The contemporary challenge of John of the Cross: An introduction to his life and teaching. Washington, DC: ICS Publications.
Foley, M. (2002). John of the Cross: The ascent to joy. Hyde Park: New City Press.
Gawronski, R. (1995). Word and silence: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the spiritual encounter between East and West. Edinburgh: T & T Clark.
Green, D. (1986). St John of the Cross and mystical ‘Unknowing’. Religious Studies, 22(1), 29–40.
Hunt, A. (1990). The trinity: Insights from the mystics. Collegeville: Liturgical Press.
James, W. (1985). The varieties of religious experience. New York: Penguin Classics.
Johnston, W. (1994). Wisdom and emptiness. In M. Dhavamony (Ed.), Interfaith dialogue (pp. 261–278). Rome: Editrice Pontificia Universita Gregoriana.
Johnston, W. (2003). The inner eye of love: Mysticism and religion. New York: Fordham University Press.
Kavanaugh, K. (1991). Introduction to The Ascent of Mount Carmel. In The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (K. Kavanaugh & O. Rodriguez, Trans., pp. 101–109). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications.
Koslofsky, C. (2011). Evening’s empire: A history of the night in early modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Laird, M. (2006). Into the silent land: A guide to the Christian practice of contemplation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Laporte, J.-M. (1997). Kenosis as a key to maturity and personality. In R. C. Roberts & M. R. Talbot (Eds.), Limning the psyche: Exploitations in Christian psychology (pp. 229–244). Grant Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing.
Losseff, N. (2007). Silent music and the eternal silence. In N. Losseff & J. Doctor (Eds.), Silence, music, silent music (pp. 205–224). Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.
Lubec, Henri de. (1996). The discovery of God (Alexander Dru, Trans.). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Meninger, W. (2014). St. John of the Cross for beginners: A commentary on The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night of the Soul. Brooklyn: Lantern Books.
Merton, T. (1991). Ascent to truth. Kent: Burns & Oats.
Nicolas, A. T. D. (1996). St. John of the Cross: Alchemist of the soul. Boston: Weiser Books.
Nieto, J. C. (1979). Mystic, Rebel, Saint: A study of St John of the Cross. Genéve: Librairie Droz S.A.
Nietzsche, F. (2003). Twilight of the idols and the anti-christ. London: Penguin.
O’Keefe, M. (2014). Love awakened by love: The liberating ascent of Saint John of the Cross. Washington, DC: ICS Publications.
Palakeel, J. (1995). The use of analogy in theological discourse: An investigation in Ecumenical perspective. Rome: Gregorian University Press.
Panikkar, R. (1989). The silence of god: The answer of the Buddha. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Payne, S. (1990). John of the Cross and the cognitive value of Mysticism: An analysis of Sanjuanist teaching and its philosophical implications for contemporary discussions of mystical experience. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publications.
Perrin, D. B. (1997). For love of the world: The old and new self of John of the Cross. San Francisco/London: Catholic Scholars Press.
Scherrer, S. (2009). Desert living: Contemplative living as the context for contemplative praying. Bloomington: i Universe.
Tavard, G. H. (1988). Poetry and contemplation in St. John of the Cross. Athens: Ohio University Press.
Turner, D. (1998). The darkness of god: Negativity in Christian Mysticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Weinandy, T. G. (2000). Does god suffer? Edinburgh: T & T Clark.
Werblowsky, R. J. Z. (1966). On the mystical rejection of mystical illuminations: A note on St John of the Cross. Religious Studies, 1(2), 177–184.
Wilhelmsen, E. (1986). Review of faith according to John of the Cross by Karol Wojtyla. The Thomist, 50(2), 300–306.
Wilhelmsen, E. (1993). Knowledge and symbolization in Saint John of the Cross. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Wojtyla, K. (1981). Faith according to Saint John of the Cross (J. Aumann, Trans.). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Wolosky, S. (1995). Language mysticism: The negative way of language in Eliot, Beckett and Celan. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer India
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sebastian, C.D. (2016). Nada and the Limits of Faculties in John of the Cross. In: The Cloud of Nothingness. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 19. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-3646-7_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-3646-7_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New Delhi
Print ISBN: 978-81-322-3644-3
Online ISBN: 978-81-322-3646-7
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)