First the Darkness, then Théosis. An Inquiry into St. John of the Cross’ Dark Night of the Soul Through the Perspective of Théosis

摘要

ThisthesisisananalysisofSt.JohnoftheCross’treatiseTheDarkNightoftheSoulfromanEasternOrthodoxperspective,focusingonelementsofclassicaltheologyofthéosisandliminalitywithinthetext.UsingVladimirLossky’sviewonOrthodoxmysticaltheologyaswellasritualtheoryandtheoriesofliminalityfromVictorTurnerandArnoldvanGennepthestudyexamineswhetherornotitispossibletospeakaboutthéosisinWesternmysticalteachingsandpractises,andifDarkNightcanbeviewedasanexampleofsuchateaching.Thisthesisthusseekstoanswertwomainquestions,namelywhetherStJohnoftheCross’treatisecanbesaidtobeanexampleofthéosistheologywritteninWesternform,andifthetrialsoftheDarkNightcanbesaidtobeaformofsocio-­‐ontologicalprocessofchange,eitherpartiallyorcompletely.ThemethodusedintheworkisamodifiedversionofthetextualanalysisdescribedinCarl-­‐HenricGrenholm’sbookAttförståreligion:metoderförteologiskforskning,focusingoncentralthemesandideas,andkeywordsrelatedtothéosis.ThetheoreticalperspectiveforthethesishasbeenbasedinEasternOrthodoxmysticaltheology,andthecentralaimhasbeentoofferaresponsetoVladimirLossky’scritiqueoftheWesternChurchashavingforgottenitsmysticalroots.KeyfindingsarethattheDarkNightasaprocesshasstrongelementsofbothliminalityandsocio-­‐ontologicaltransformation,andthatthelanguageofSt.JohnisverysimilartothatofearlyOrthodoxtheologians,withclearapophaticterminology.