Work

Metaphors for Metamorphosis: The Poetics of Kenosis and the Apophasis of Self in Saint John of the Cross

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Spanish mystic Saint Juan (John) of the Cross (1542–1591) began writing poetry while imprisoned by his own monastic order. He developed manuals for contemplation, in part, in the form of commentaries on his principal poems. Their first-person narrators were women who underwent metamorphoses in order to pursue love: one became a dove in her despair; another became flame itself; the last disguised herself as a knight. Juan explained that all three represented the soul that is seeking God. For readers, these metaphors could engender cognitive dissonance, through which they might step outside of themselves and move closer to union with the Divine. This process of human self-emptying and self-negation mirrored the self-emptying (kenosis) of Christ in traditional Christology and the negation (apophasis) of human pretense at knowledge about God in apophatic (“negative”) mysticism.

Source: Religions

DOI: 10.3390/rel16040455

Author: George Faithful

Institution: Dominican University of California

Language: English

Topic: Early Modern Spanish Literature

Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,172

Funders: American Council of Learned Societies, Louisville Institute, Pomona College