The Reformation · c. 1578–1585
The Dark Night of the Soul
La Noche Oscura del Alma
John of the Cross · 1542–1591
What it is
A poem and its commentary on the two nights the soul passes through — of the senses and then of the spirit — in which God withdraws every consolation precisely in order to purify love of its self-interest.
Why it lasted
The tradition's definitive treatment of spiritual desolation, and the reason a phrase for a private crisis of faith exists in ordinary English at all.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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