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Truthseeker
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| Joined: | Wed Oct 4th, 2006 |
| Location: | Costa Mesa, California USA |
| Posts: | 354 |
| First Name: | Laura | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | lapsed and returned CATHOLIC!!!!!! |
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Posted: Thu Jan 25th, 2007 01:21 pm |
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I just bought a translated version of Dark Night of the Soul by E.Allison Peers. 2 questions-
1- Is it a good translation?
2- It says the Dark Night is a continuation of Ascent of mount Carmel. Will I be missing something very important if I read this one first?
Thanks!
Last edited on Thu Jan 25th, 2007 01:22 pm by Truthseeker
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Lord, please make my will your Will!
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David W. Emery
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
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| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Jan 25th, 2007 04:08 pm |
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I actually prefer the Peers translation in a number of respects, although it has been criticized. One thing is that it is done in a pseudo-antiquated language that is supposed to simulate the original 16th century Spanish text. Something else that is often pointed out is that Peers, an English man of letters who died in the 1950s, was Anglican rather than Catholic. Personally, I think he did the very best job he could to translate worthily, and he did not try to rephrase anything just for “modern sensibilities” or to defend any sectarian doctrine. He recognized it as a Catholic book, consulted with Carmelite monks and nuns about both the text and its interpretation, and based his translation on a critical edition by a Carmelite scholar. Basically, if you are OK with the language of the King James or Douay-Rheims bible, you will find it perfectly usable. If not, you should try another version.
The most recent translation the Kevanaugh-Rodriguez version, the current official Carmelite translation for English-language readers. There are places in it where I think the translators have missed the meaning, and other places that their wording seems seems too free. But even Peers, on occasion, had to resort to paraphrase to avoid an over-dense paragraph or to convey idioms that have lost their meaning.
One thing you won’t need from the Peers version are the textual footnotes. The casual reader can just ignore them and lose nothing.
Now as to the question of whether it is better to start with the Ascent instead of the Dark Night: my preference is that it is better to read the Dark Night first, because the Ascent is quite stark and will scare the daylights out of some people unless they see the other, more passive side first. Also, the Dark Night is an easier read, the concepts are more easily understood, etc. The two definitely need to be taken as a whole, however. So in the end, if you are going to read the one, you also need to read the other to get the complete picture. The Ascent treats of the soul’s active purgation and the part the person himself has to take in his ascent to Christian perfection; the Dark Night deals with passive purgation, where God works in the soul through grace, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the divine indwelling.
Finally, note that these books treat of purgation — the “hard part” of the Christian life in most people’s view. St. John’s other works, especially the Living Flame of Love, treat of the illuminative and unitive ways, which are far more pleasant reading. But they presuppose that the soul has already passed through the purgative way and is far advanced on the road to perfection. So you don’t get something for nothing.
David
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Truthseeker
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| Joined: | Wed Oct 4th, 2006 |
| Location: | Costa Mesa, California USA |
| Posts: | 354 |
| First Name: | Laura | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | lapsed and returned CATHOLIC!!!!!! |
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Posted: Fri Jan 26th, 2007 12:36 am |
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| thank you!
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Lord, please make my will your Will!
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