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| | Description | The fourth centenary of the death of St. John of the Cross inspired this revised edition of the English translation of his writings. The result is an edition that preserves the true meaning of the great mystic's writings, presents them as clearly as possible, and at the same time gives the reader the doctrinal and historical information that will lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the teachings of the Mystical Doctor. Included in The Collected Works are St. John's poetry, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, The Spiritual Canticle, and The Living Flame of Love, as well as his letters and other counsels. There is a general introduction for the entire work and brief, enlightening introductions for each specific work, explaining theme and structure. Enhancing these are the new footnotes, glossary of terms, and index. | |
| | Product Details | | Author: | Saint John of the Cross | | Paperback: | 814 pages | | Publisher: | Ics Pubns | | Publication Date: | January 01, 1991 | | Language: | Spanish | | ISBN: | 0935216146 | | Package Length: | 9.4 inches | | Package Width: | 5.9 inches | | Package Height: | 1.2 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.55 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 29 reviews |
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Teresa and John Jun 15, 2010
Both John and Teresa are Doctors of the Church. Their words are significant, and we should pay attention to both of them. However, several reviews leave the impression that even though the two were friends they weren't exactly equal. We should pay more attention to John. Now, John did indeed create a masterpiece, but isn't Teresa considered the more brilliant writer of the two? Aren't there those who find her greater than Cervantes, perhaps the greatest writer Spain ever produced? And wasn't it Teresa who had the stronger personality? Wasn't she the friend who kept the other's spirits up? Somehow, I imagine them as a most saintly, but odd pair. John was so sensitive, so delicate. And Teresa? Sensitive to be sure, but hardly delicate. To me, she was a dynamo. What would John have done without her? For that matter, what would we do without the two of them.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross Jun 01, 2010
This review is a review of The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, but I must confess that so far I have only read The Ascent of Mount Carmel. So this review will be limited to that book.
I.
The Ascent of Mount Carmel is, in its form, a practical book of spiritual instruction designed for monks to guide them in the contemplative life. It is full of advice about what to do with the appetites, the will, the memory, and even spiritual visions.
In all of his advice St. John of the Cross is motivated by a single question: what is it that separates us from God? This should always be kept in mind when reading this book. St. John of the Cross is not interested in asceticism, or in the denial of the appetites, the intellect, and the will, simply for its own sake, but only to the degree that these separate us from God. St. John of the Cross is miles away, in my opinion, from any kind of puritanical denunciation of our natural human appetites. What St. John of the Cross is interested in is leading the soul to union with God, the "peace which the soul does not understand", and everything he says should be viewed in the light of this one goal.
St. John of the Cross seems to accept a Thomistic division of the faculties of the soul into the sensitive, the appetitive, the intellectual, and the volitional. None of the souls faculties can, through their natural employment, lead the soul to union with God. St. John of the Cross writes, "this transformation and union is something that does not fall within the reach of the senses and of human capability, the soul must perfectly and voluntarily empty itself...of all the earthly and heavenly things it can grasp" (pg. 160). This emptying of the faculties is the main subject of the book and constitutes a "darkness" for the faculties which are deprived of their usual objects.
This "darkness" is what St. John means by faith, and it is the road of faith and darkness that the soul must walk if it wishes to reach union with God. Again, this is a long ways away from our ordinary understanding of faith. Ordinarily we view faith as equivalent to belief. But for St. John faith refers to a nakedness, a poverty of spirit, which does not necessarily imply belief in a specific creed (nor does it imply unbelief). This notion of faith is closer to the faith that Christ praises in the birds and the flowers, who do not take thought for tomorrow, than it is to our usual notions of faith.
As St. John says, "Since God cannot be encompassed by any image, form, or particular knowledge, in order to be united with him the soul should not be limited by any particular form or knowledge" (pg. 201). To be united with God in perfect spiritual freedom we must not cling to any particular image, form, or knowledge, and, I would argue, this includes belief.
For St. John of the Cross "unknowing" constitutes the highest form of knowledge, and the only form of knowledge adequate to God (for more on this read The Degrees of Knowledge by Jacques Maritain). Since God cannot be encompassed by any visible form it is only by emptying the soul of such forms that we can be filled with the presence of God.
II.
Another interesting way of reading The Ascent of Mount Carmel, in my opinion, is to read it as a handbook for training a `holy will' in the Kantian sense. The philosopher Immanuel Kant famously argued against the possible existence of a `holy will' which he defined as a will which would do the good, not out of a sense of duty, but from its own inclination. St. John of the Cross would probably not waste any time debating with philosophers about whether such a `holy will' exists or not. Instead he offers practical advice for how to train one. A soul that has achieved union with God is a soul that does good spontaneously, without thought. Since the goal of St. John's advice is to lead the soul to such a union one can also view it as advice in the training of a `holy will'.
III.
I would like to end my review with two quotes, by other authors, that I feel are in the spirit of St. John of the Cross.
One is from the Roman novelist Apuleius, who lived hundreds of years before St. John of the Cross. The quote is from Apuleius's novel The Golden Ass and it requires some setup (I will make this as brief as possible). Basically the hero of the book is transformed early on in the novel into a donkey and he has a series of adventures as he is passed from one master to another. At one point of the story he falls in with a group of eunuchs who have devoted themselves to some nameless goddess. These eunuchs engage in extreme forms of self-flagellation in honoring their goddess and work themselves up into a self-induced frenzy which causes the main character to make the following remark:
"A strange notion, this, that the divine immanency, instead of doing men good, enfeebles or disorders their senses" (pg. 190).
This is a sentiment I believe St. John shares (and which is also shared by Plato which is probably where Apuleius got it). It is the idea that the divine immanency (or union with God) is a good for the soul, and enhances rather than enfeebles its natural capacities. This distinguishes St. John of the Cross from the more Dionysian notions of divine union like that presented in Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy. St. John of the Cross is not interested in any kind of unbridled enthusiasm, or in extreme forms of ecstacy. It is possible to work oneself up into such states but that is not "divine union"; at least, not as St. John of the Cross understands it.
IV.
The second quote is from the trappist monk Thomas Merton who lived hundreds of years after St. John of the Cross and was a great admirer of St. John.
The quote comes from Thomas Merton's Zen and the Birds of Appetite. He writes, "Where there is carrion lying, meat-eating birds circle and descend...The living attack the dead to their own profit...Do you then approach the study of Zen with the idea that there is something to be gained by it?...Where there is a lot of fuss about `spirituality,' `enlightenment' or just `turning on,' it is often because there are buzzards hovering around a corpse...Zen enriches no one. There is no body to be found. The birds may come and circle for a while in the place where it is thought to be. But they soon go elsewhere. When they are gone, the `nothing', the `no-body' that was there, suddenly appears. That is Zen. It was there all the time but the scavengers missed it, because it was not their kind of prey" (pg. ix).
I would argue that, like Zen, St. John of the cross enriches no one, and that is because it is not ultimately through the accumulation of insights, knowledge, or good deeds that we approach God but through poverty of spirit. St. John of the Cross offers no meat for scavengers, he is not their kind of prey. "Nothing, nothing, nothing, and even on the Mount still nothing!"
-Brian
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Amazing! May 26, 2010
The depth and intimacy of St John's relationship with God is truly remarkable. On a personal basis, his is far more yearning because of the separation of mankind from God than my own meditations which tend to be more joyful; however, mine are far from being as practiced as his! I got it because I am curious about the 'mystics' and their lives. This is very interesting and inspiring.
St. John of the Cross Apr 26, 2010
It should be noted that St. John of the Cross was writing for the monks in his Carmelite order and does not expect everyone to adhere to his teaching. However, St. John of the Cross is an excellent author and should be read by both Catholics and Protestants alike. Few people take the commands of Jesus as seriously as St. John of the Cross. This book contains much of his poetry, which is very good, but most importantly "The Ascent of Mount Carmel" which is a commentary of some of his poetry. If you don't want to be challenged to live a life closer to Jesus than before, do not buy this book. However, if you wish to gain some spiritual insights from one of the great spiritual masters, this is a great resource. I have greatly enjoyed reading this work.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
why have you wounded this heart? Mar 17, 2009
This book rocks. It brings the fire. I only wish that it had the spanish as well.
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