Below are abstracts of journal articles and book reviews covering various topics in Carmelite studies written by the Center’s PhD student, Irina V. Smetanina, M.T.S., Th.M. Check here every month for postings of her latest work.
Niziński, Rafał Sergiusz. “Mystical Contemplation and Other Ways of the Cognition of God According to Saint John of the Cross.” Verbum Vitae. 43, no. 2 (2025): 293–313.
Niziński’s article offers a thoughtful explanation of St. John of the Cross’ understanding of the relationship between mystical contemplation and knowledge. In other words, it explores the idea of mystical cognition of God. In particular, Niziński highlights how St. John understands mystical contemplation as a means of preparation for seeing God after death. Thus, mystical contemplation is important insofar as it releases the believer from thinking about God according to anthropomorphic or otherwise worldly categories. The author seeks to analyze why exactly the movement from faith to contemplation purifies human cognition. He begins by noting the ways that St. John believes we can know God to varying degrees, while emphasizing that true knowledge of God in se requires a complete turn towards God, not merely a cognitive one. Further along, he explains that following the Sanjuanist understanding, faith is that which presents God to us as He really is (omnipotent, etc.), but at the same time faith is a sort of indirect or “dark” cognition because it is not vision. Faith is a light so bright that it in some sense it blinds our cognition, thereby uniting us more closely to God. Whereas the intellect always seeks by nature to grasp God fully but necessarily is insufficient to do so, St. John posits that faith can grow infinitely in God, ever increasing one’s union with and concentration on Him. The author goes on to argue that this line of reasoning in John is a sort of analogous preparation for the beatific vision, though distinct on the level of corporality. Moreover, faith is that which begins to allow the believer to focus all their faculties on God wholeheartedly in contemplation, which turns out to be a form of passivity. As Niziński writes, “contemplation simplifies faith by silencing all human activity of the intellect in favor of pure acceptance” (309). Among his concluding remarks, the author notes importantly that “mystical cognition is not about thinking, but about opening up to God through love” (310). He also makes the significant observation that the feelings which arise in contemplation differ in nature from those studied by psychology. Therefore, much like one cannot reason their way to love or friendship, the mystic may struggle to narrate how they feel in contemplation. For these reasons, and others set forth in the article, St. John of the Cross helps us to understand how faith prepares us by way of purification for contemplation as a unique form of cognition that passively and totally unites us to God.
Onofre, Dario Velandia. “Mysticism and Visual Theology: The Sacred Image and Gaze in Saint Teresa of Ávila.” Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures 51, no. 1 (2025): 54–77.
Velandia, an art historian with interest in how literary sources condition visual culture, offers an article exploring the relationship between mystical and visual theology. He seeks to elucidate the way in which Teresa’s works contribute to the development of a theology of visual practices, which in turn sheds light on the theological impact of sacred images and the sacred gaze. The author relies on The Book of Her Life, The Way of Perfection, as well as The Interior Castle. He begins by indicating three aspects of visual images that are important to consider, namely location, the nature of the image, and whether it produces an emotional reaction. The themes of empathy and imitation weave through Velandia’s summary of The Interior Castle, as she explains the significance of each mansion. He then asserts that precisely how Teresa understood sacred images is not entirely clear, but he argues that Teresa does appear to think that they go beyond mere representation. Velandia goes on to make interesting historical notes about the complex visual culture in Spain at St. Teresa’s time, as well as the Franciscan and Jesuit influences in her life and theology of prayer. Moreover, he cites Ignatius of Loyola as a critical influence on St. Teresa’s understanding of visual images. He introduces several instances of Teresa explaining mystical experiences with visual images. Importantly, he notes Teresa’s insistence that we reach God through Christ’s humanity and how physical images awaken devotion, emotion, and imagination in St. Teresa. He concludes that Teresa’s theology suggests that not only do sacred images aid in visualization, but he also goes so far as to say that they themselves might in some sense “contain” divinity (akin to how icons are understood as windows into heaven in Orthodox theology). He posits that it is for this reason that Teresa believes that they can serve as a means of spiritual education and facilitate experiencing the gaze of God. The article provides an intriguing interdisciplinary analysis of the role of sacred images in Teresa of Avila’s thought.