One of the greatest lyrical poets in Spanish of any age, St John of the Cross (1542-1591) enjoys an authoritative status as a theologian and teacher of the mystical road to union with God. This full-length study, vividly written in a style accessible to contemporary readers, devotes a separate chapter to each of St John’s major works, citing the original Spanish and providing English translations throughout. Looking for connections between his verse and prose, Colin Thompson argues for a theological understanding of the intensely beautiful and moving poems. He seeks to explain the principles that guide St John in his exploration of the self and its encounter with the divine, and provides an analysis of the poet’s most famous symbol – the dark night of the soul. ‘… unquestionably the most thorough, authoritative and competent study of St John of the Cross to have appeared in English since Trueman Dicken’s Crucible of Love in 1963. Thompson’s command of the contemporary Spanish context as well as of John’s theological background in Aquinas, Augustine and Christian Platonism makes this book far wider in perspective and scope… I am certain it will establish itself as a classic… as a serious but accessible study of a world figure in the realm of spirituality, it stands alone.’ The Very Revd Gordon Mursell, Dean of Birmingham.