Customer Reviews

Ascent of Mount Carmel (Triumph Classics)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

On the positive side, the Carrigan translation is based on the E. Allison Peer's which is currently out of print. The negative is that some of the chapters are omitted by the translator (he says since they are repetative or about John's religious community, that are insignificant). I would have to discagree. Without the full transalation, some pertanent insights can be lost.

I have the downloaded the Peer's translation in both PDF and RTF format and am still looking (or hoping for a reprint) of a hardcopy from Ligouri

I read The Ascent of Mount Carmel over a decade after my own conversion to Christianity. What astonished me the most was that St. John of the Cross described with absolute precision exactly how God had intereacted with me. He describes many ways in which God chooses to reveal himself to man, most of which I did not understand. But it would be my guess that if anyone has encountered God, that encounter is described somewhere in this book.

I'm afraid that Carrigan, who of course read the Peers translation before making his abridgment, does not understand how difficult it is for a reader who has not already read the full version to make sense of the abridgment. The problem is that the parts he removes are the concrete, often Scriptural, analogies that St. John of the Cross uses to make his abstract descriptions of the dynamics of spiritual life understandable. In the original, St. John often comes at a problem from several different angles, so that if one way of explaining it is hard to understand, you get a second or third chance. For someone like Carrigan who has already mastered the teachings, this may seem like repetition, but for the first-time reader, it's extremely helpful.

Also, if this is to be your only encounter with St. John, you will not understand the importance of Scripture, especially the Old Testament, to his thought, as Carrigan has removed most of the OT references. Also missing from this book is the Spanish text of the poem, which would have only taken two pages to print. I urge interested readers to buy instead the Kieran Kavanaugh Collected Works of St. John of the Cross form the Institute of Carmelite Studies, which gives you ALL of STOTC, the Spanish texts of the poems, a reproduction of St. John's striking crucifix drawings, and the diagrams of Mt. Carmel that he prepared for his students to make his overall scheme easier to grasp. Given the extremely high value of reading and understanding Ascent, and the difficulty, it is worth it to spend a few dollars more to get a first rate book.

I'd give it 5 stars except that it's a hard read in spots. Otherwise a brilliant mystical text on spiritual union with God. Whatever your spiritual beliefs this book will give you insights into improving your spiritual being.

This book is classic Catholic thought of the Mystery of Faith and brings us to the mind of God by empting one's self and waiting for God the Father to fill the void caused by sin; as self evident in today's world of materialism and lack of purpose beyond self gratification. We must fight our human weakness and we find purpose.