Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 Return to Carmel: The Construction of a Discalced Identity in John of the Cross Thomas J. Neal Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES RETURN TO CARMEL: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A DISCALCED IDENTITY IN JOHN OF THE CROSS By THOMAS NEAL A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2008 Copyright © 2009 Thomas Neal All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the Dissertation of Thomas Neal defended on December 12, 2008. _______________________________ John Corrigan Professor Directing Dissertation _______________________________ Nancy Warren Outside Committee Member _______________________________ Amanda Porterfield Committee Member _______________________________ John Kelsay Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS John Donne once wrote, “No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.” The journey toward a Ph.D uniquely evidences this fact, and the cloud of humanity that has carried me to the successful completion of this dissertation project is truly a vast and lovely cloud. So I begin with the disclaimer that the procession of names I list here in no way reflects the entirety of those to whom justice demands my offerings of gratitude. First, to the man Juan de Yepes, later known in religion as Juan de la Cruz, I gratefully acknowledge the numberless acts of wonder his life and writings awakened in me. Though in faith I have long named him San Juan, as a scholar of religion I newly discovered him as a Castilian Spaniard, man of flesh and blood whose historical world became for me an imaginative quest of discovery and insight. That quest has forged me into, I hope, a better scholar whose “positioned sightings,” to use Thomas Tweed’s felicitous phrase, are far richer and more expansive than they were before I began my graduate studies at Florida State University in 2001. Juan y San Juan will, no doubt, remain a lifelong passion for me. But I must press on to the litany of gratitude. I will mostly try to avoid orders of importance. I initially think of the countless teachers, professors, and colleagues who have, over the years, inspired my curiosity, my desire and ability to wonder and see things anew, and have challenged me to go beyond my perceived limits toward greater things. At Florida State, there are some professors who played an especially crucial role: John Kelsay, whose ability to encourage and challenge coincided more often than not; John Corrigan, a brilliant scholar whose confidence in my abilities ultimately made this project a reality, and kept me from despair; David Kangas, whose exceptional mind ignited in me a new passion for thought-never-at-rest; Amanda Porterfield, whose inclusive and broad approach to thought made mine less narrow; Nancy Warren, who synthesized compassion with excellence in academic work in a way that inspired me to imitation. Also thanks to FSU profs like the feisty Adam Gaiser, the spunky Robin Simon, the caring Amy Koehlinger, the genuine Aline Kalbian, the omniscient Jonathan Grant, the humble William Parker, the extraordinary and dear friend Alexander Jiménez, and the incisive iii Mark Souva, for their genuine enthusiasm over my work and their believing in my scholarly capabilities. I am grateful to the many scholars I was able to engage in conversation with through correspondence, as their insights offered me crucial direction in crafting this project: Edward Howells, Denys Turner, Elizabeth Rhodes, Jane Ackerman, Caroline Walker Bynum, Alison Weber, Gillian Ahlgren, Keith Egan, Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, Rik.Van Nieuwenhove, Terrance O’Reilly, Jessica Boon, Barbara Cook, Adam Beaver, and Henry Kamen. I am grateful to graduate colleagues at FSU whom I had the privilege of knowing and learning from: my friends Dustin Feddon, Sonya Cronin, Christy Flanagan; my strong supporters Betsy Barre, Tamara Marks, Kate Temoney, Art Remillard. I owe also a debt of gratitude to the sweet Susan Minnerly and the honest Jon Bridges for their constant help with my detail-ineptitudes. I must heartily thank the Brotherhood of Hope who opened their Tallahassee home to me. There I lived, wrote, read, and wrote more, and they opened their hearts in support. I thank the Spitzers for sharing their home with me in St. Teresa, Florida where I could work for days on end in solitude. I thank Cadence Kidwell for her friendship and editing assistance. I thank Msgr. C. Slade Crawford and Msgr. Michael W. Tugwell for their astounding support and encouragement. And for my faith community in Tallahassee – beyond words. I must acknowledge with all the gusto I can muster those many who financially contributed to this financially exhausting project, without whom it would have either never happened or left us in massive debt. Such gifts are supremely humbling to receive, and with a great and perpetual sense of debt I will labor in the future. And the list would never end. But at the end of the day, those who stand at the center of my life are the members of my family. It is on them that I heap abundant laud and thanks. I am indebted to my parents, Margaret and Edmond, whose ceaseless encouragement, support, and love overran all measures. My siblings, well, they kept me real. But it was my wife, and it was my children who were my rock, my inspiration these seven years. My wife’s sacrifices were innumerable and unspeakable, and my children’s sacrifice of time with daddy was costly. All my labors were in their name. And it is to them that I dedicate this book, and all books I may ever write. I thank God for them and for all the people I have named or failed to name. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations…………………………………………………………vi Drawing of Mount Carmel by John of the Cross……………………..vii Abstract……………………………………………………………….viii INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….1 1. CONTEXTUALIZING THE “SANJUANIST SELF”…………….31 2. THE “SANJUANIST SELF” IN TEXTS………………………….70 3. THE ASCETIC-APOPHASIS OF DISCALCED IDENTITY…….110 4. THE EROTICIZATION OF DISCALCED IDENTITY…………..179 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………….241 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………244 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH…………………………………………262 v LIST OF ABREVIATIONS Ascent of Mount Carmel (A) Dark Night (N) Spiritual Canticle, redaction B (CB) Living Flame of Love, redaction B (L) Institute for Carmelite Studies (ICS) vi JOHN OF THE CROSS’ DRAWING OF MOUNT CARMEL Source: ICS Publications vii ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the John of the Cross’ (1542-1591) construction of a uniquely “Discalced Carmelite identity” in his writings, with particular emphasis on his works, the Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Dark Night. The focus of this study is placed on John’s interpretation of Teresa of Avila’s version of Discalced reform that she founded, with its special emphasis on reform as the quest for mystical union with God at the center of the Carmelite soul. To this end, John appropriated scholastic, monastic, apophatic and erotic traditions to define the reform, and to distinguish it from the many competing identities in sixteenth century Spain. Previous studies have examined John’s construction of the self within theological, philosophical and literary contexts, and have located many of the influences on John and Teresa’s conception of the self, its structures and trajectories. As this dissertation reveals, however, most of the studies on John, unlike so many recent studies done on Teresa, fail to embed his texts in the thick context of his historical world. This study seeks to link John’s unique conception of the self and its construction with the many related conversations in Spain to which John was privy. Of particular importance to this study is the impact of this context with John’s attempt to trace a Discalced Carmelite identity capable of bearing the weight of a Teresian model of reform. viii INTRODUCTION Summary of Thesis This is a study of John of the Cross’ construction of a uniquely Teresian1 Discalced Carmelite identity as it is found in his written works, especially the two major ascetical- mystical commentaries on his poem, One Dark Night: the Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Dark Night. The study of these texts is carried out in conversation with a wide spectrum of studies in European religious, intellectual, social, and cultural history. A special focus is placed on sixteenth century Spanish reform movements that helped give shape to Teresa of Avila’s own reformation of the Carmelite nuns and friars. Specifically, I examine John’s utilization of ascetical, mystical, theological, philosophical and literary traditions in his written works, in service to the construction of what both he and Teresa believed to be an authentic retrieval of a lost Carmelite identity. John’s reconstruction is deeply indebted to the local and regional histories of Castile and Andalusia, as well to broader historical currents of European history. This study examines how John can be seen in his texts to be in critical conversation with his environment, and how the seemingly otherworldly concerns of mysticism are deeply embedded in Spain’s cultural matrix. Sixteenth century Spain increasingly projected an image of national unity as it sought to solidify its status as a nation-state and a world empire, and looked more and more toward religion to offer a nationally unifying narrative. But the forces of diversity and division tore at the seams of that narrative. John and Teresa also sought in religion a unifying narrative for Carmel that would transcend the diversity and divisions that seemed to threaten its viability as a force for unity and reform in Spain, and throughout the world.