Approach to the Concept Death in the Works of Saint John of the Cross

Abstract

This paper wants to examine the understanding of the concept death in the works of the Spanish mystic John of the Cross. The investigation makes a broad view of the uses of the term in the friar’s writings to glimpse its characteristic features, starting with an approach to the historical context that could influence the idea that formed about it. Mainly, grammatical, semantic, and theological elements are used to show the scope the author gives to death in the physical experience and particularly spiritual experience. The paper also shows the constant duality between life and death in John, as well as the double meaning, negative and positive, that the term has, both to speak of physical death and to speak of spiritual death, and its particularity since that for his death can be synonymous with life and the object of love.