Ciência da cruz ou experiência mística? a propósito de Edith Stein e Jean Baruzi sobre Juan de la Cruz

Carlos Henrique do Carmo Silva

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Abstract

This study aims to further reflection on the theological and philosophical perspectives of a theme that since St. Paul has been characterised by the scientia crucis, in the context of mysticism and of St. John of the Cross. After establishing the methodological perspectives at issue, as regards the inteligibility of the spiritual experience and the indispensible mediation of Christ in a theology of perfection, which remain stimulating for the radicality of philosophical enquiry, the contributions of relational language and of its performance in terms of intelligentia fidei are considered. Then the author examines in St. John of the Cross the framework of the via mistica and of Christocentricity, comparing two almost contemporary perspectives [those of the Bergsonian philosopher Jean Baruzi in Saint Jean de la Croix et le problème de l’expérience mystique (19241;19312…) and in Jewish philosophy, the disciple of Husserl and later Carmelite, martyr and saint, Edith Stein, in Kreuzeswissenschaft (1941-42)]. This analysis parodoxically reveals that to the Carmelite spiritual figure there is a preference for an intellectual reading as knowledge of the Cross, while to the philosopher, almost agnostic in his method, what predominates is a transcendency of the mystical experience in a reading of anthropological metamorphosis. To conclude, this paradox is brought back to the indispensable incarnational dimension of Christian spirituality, further demanded by the crucial meditation of Edith Stein, not forgetting the character of apophatic mysticism and the differential prominence of an encounter with another radicality of Christian experience.
Original languagePortuguese
Pages (from-to)349-414
Number of pages66
JournalDidaskalia
Volume38
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2008

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