Dark Night of the Soul

Name: Dark Night of the Soul
Author: St. John of the Cross

St. John of the Cross · Christianity · c. 1585 CE

Translated by David Lewis (1908, rev. Zimmermann)

39 chapters

St. John of the Cross's classic account of the soul's passive purgation in contemplative prayer — the 'dark night' by which God leads the mystic from the purgative to the unitive way.

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1Book I, Chapter 1: Begins with the first stanza and treats of the imperfections of beginners
2Book I, Chapter 2: Of spiritual imperfections to which beginners are liable in the matter of pride
3Book I, Chapter 3: Of the imperfections to which beginners are liable in the matter of spiritual avarice
4Book I, Chapter 4: Of other imperfections to which beginners are liable in the matter of spiritual luxury
5Book I, Chapter 5: Of the imperfections of beginners in the matter of spiritual anger
6Book I, Chapter 6: Of the imperfections in the matter of spiritual gluttony
7Book I, Chapter 7: Of the imperfections in the matter of spiritual envy and sloth
8Book I, Chapter 8: Explanation of the first line of the first stanza — the beginning of the dark night
9Book I, Chapter 9: Of the signs by which it may be known that the spiritual man is walking in the way of this night
10Book I, Chapter 10: How the soul is to conduct itself in the night of sense
11Book I, Chapter 11: The second line of the first stanza explained — "With anxious love inflamed"
12Book I, Chapter 12: Of the benefits which the night of sense brings to the soul
13Book I, Chapter 13: Of other benefits which the night of sense brings to the soul
14Book I, Chapter 14: The last line of the first stanza explained
15Book II, Chapter 1: The second night — that of the spirit; when it begins
16Book II, Chapter 2: Of certain imperfections of proficients
+ 23 more chapters