Vernacular Language and Pedagogical Dimension in Mystical Theology: A Brief Note

Abstract

Mystical theology unfolds in an interior theology and will develop a whole pedagogical-pastoral work within its methodology of approaching God. As opposed to scholasticism and dogmatic theology explained in Latin in university chairs to train theologians and pastors, the mystical ideal is conscious of being a spiritual itinerary for the interior formation of the religious and the people with whom they live, as "John of the Cross, O.P., pointed out in 1555: "In our age and in our lands the Lord awakens many men and women... And he strives them for spiritual life and spiritual occupations". This universal desire in which each of those who set out on the mystical path follows his or her own path from the Middle Ages will require a methodological change which includes the use of the vernacular language, in this case Spanish, in a context of Castilian humanism and a budding Reformation.