All thinkers

Mystic · Early modern

St. John of the Cross

1542–1591 · Carmelite mysticism

Doctor of the Church Latin

Doctor of the Church (Doctor Mysticus), canonized 1726, declared Doctor 1926.

Co-founder with Teresa of the Discalced Carmelites, imprisoned by his own brethren, John wrote the greatest poetry in Spanish and commented on it in the Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night, Spiritual Canticle and Living Flame of Love. He teaches that the soul must pass through the active and passive nights of sense and spirit, stripped of every attachment and image, to be united with God in faith, hope and love.

Why he matters: He is the Church's theologian of the nights: the authority on purification, on the discernment of visions, and on the “nada” that is the road to “todo.” Thomist in his doctrine, apophatic in his practice, he holds the two together.

Reading

  • The Dark Night
    St. John of the Cross · Book I, chs. 1–10 on the night of sense is the best place to begin.
    Journal
  • The Ascent of Mount Carmel
    St. John of the Cross · The active purification; Book II on faith is the doctrinal core.
    Journal
  • The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross
    trans. Kavanaugh and Rodriguez, OCD · The standard edition, including the poems.
    Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error
I

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology
Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology
How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing
Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing
Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes
Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes
God's essence and His energies Absolute simplicity
Essence–energies distinction Absolute simplicity
How should we speak of God? Apophatic (negative) way
Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way
How does creation speak of God? A book of signs and vestiges
Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges
II

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Fideism
Rationalism Fideism
Where does knowledge begin? Senses and abstraction
Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas
Is truth objective? Objective truth
Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth
Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium
Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium
What is theology for? A wisdom ordered to loving
A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving
Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem
A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized
III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul
Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul
Is the body really you? Body–soul unity
Dualism Body–soul unity
Are you free? Free will
Determinism Free will
How fallen is human nature? Totally depraved
Totally depraved Basically good
The body and its desires Contempt for the flesh
Contempt for the flesh Desire as its own law
Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace
Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity
What is suffering for? A share in the Cross
An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross
IV

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude
Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude
What is happiness? Beatitude in God
Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God
What is heaven's happiness, at its heart? The will's love and enjoyment of God
The intellect's vision of God The will's love and enjoyment of God
V

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace
Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace
What is salvation for? Deification
Pardon and escape Deification
Would the Word have become flesh had Adam not sinned? Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)
Christ came to redeem sinners Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)
Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? Between
The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth
VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Icons and images Veneration of images
Iconoclasm Veneration of images
The way of prayer Stillness and the Jesus Prayer
Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation
The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy
Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy
What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato
Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato
When the Pope speaks Every word binds
Resist and judge Every word binds
Contemplation or action? Contemplation: the one thing needful
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful

A profile of your philosophical and theological leanings, measured against the settled teaching of the Catholic Church, East and West. It is a tool for examination and reading, not an instrument of judgment.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.