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From human desire to divine desire in John of the Cross

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2018

EDWARD HOWELLS Open the ORCID record for EDWARD HOWELLS [Opens in a new window]
EDWARD HOWELLS*
Affiliation:
Theology and Religious Studies, Department of Humanities, University of Roehampton, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5PJ, UK
*
e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

John of the Cross presents a spiritual journey of desire in which desire changes from a painful yearning for an infinite other, always out of reach (human desire), to the satisfaction of desire in mutual love and rest (the goal of union with God, conforming human to divine desire). John asserts a continuity of desire between these two states, and that it is possible for human desire to grow from one into the other. Yet they are very different. John's treatment of desire and how he asserts this continuity are assessed through a critical reading of his Spiritual Canticle.

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 55 , Special Issue 3: Religious Experience and Desire , September 2019 , pp. 405 - 417
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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