Humanism and Religion in Early Modern Spain

Terence O’Reilly is Professor Emeritus of Spanish at University College Cork, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. His principal field of research is the literature and history of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain. His publications include From Ignatius Loyola to John of the Cross: Spirituality and Literature in Sixteenth-Century Spain (1995); The Bible in the Literary Imagination of Golden Age Spain (2010); and The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Contexts, Sources and Reception (2020).Stephen Boyd has written extensively about the literature and art of the Spanish Golden Age, particularly the writings of Cervantes. His publications include The Art of Cervantes in Don Quixote. Critical Essays (2019), which he edited with Trudi L. Darby and Terence O'Reilly.

• Introduction by Stephen Boyd Part I. Humanism and Religion 1.‘Humanism and religion in the Omelías of Jorge de Montemayor’ 2. ‘Meditation and contemplation: monastic spirituality in early sixteenth-century Spain’ 3. ‘The religious writings of Juan de Valdés (c. 1509–1541)’ Part II. John of the Cross 4. ‘St John of the Cross and Carmel’ 5. ‘The text and the context of Que bien sé yo la fonte / que mana y corre' 6. ‘John of the Cross and the Bible’ 7. ‘Psalm 136 and the romance "Encima de las Corrientes"’ 8. ‘The Figure of Aminadab in the Writings of St John of the Cross’ 9.‘The Psalter in Golden Age Spain: St John of the Cross and Psalm 62:2’ 10. ‘San Juan de la Cruz and the Fathers of the Church: Song 1:3 in the Cántico espiritual’ 11. ‘Latin and Vernacular in the Cántico espiritual of St John of the Cross’ 12. ‘The exegesis of the Song of Songs in the Cántico espiritual’ 13. ‘Human and divine love in the Cántico spiritual of Saint John of the Cross’ 14. ‘Chiasmus and the Art of Memory in the Cántico espiritual’ Part III. Francisco de Aldana 15. ‘Friendship and contemplation in the Carta para Arias Montano’ 16. The Carta para Arias Montano: a parallel text 17. ‘The Christian Neoplatonism of Francisco de Aldana in the Carta para Arias Montano’ Part IV. Luis de León 18. Luis de León and the Hebrew Truth of Scripture: the Affair of the Biblia de Vatablo’ 19. ‘The Ode to Francisco Salinas’ 20. ‘The image of the Garden in La vida retirada’ 21. ‘Luis de León and the Ascension of Christ’ 22. ‘The movement of thought and feeling in the ode to Juan de Grial’ 23. ‘Luis de León and Galicia: a close reading of Virtud, hija del cielo’ 24. ‘The Poetic Voice of Luis de León in No siempre es poderosa’ 25. ‘Luis de León and the Moriscos: a close reading of Ode XXII (La cana y alta cumbre)’

‘It is not uncommon for a book to be promoted as "essential reading". That is what the publisher Routledge does in its description of Humanism and Religion. Having studied the book, I consider the encomium to be, in the present case, valid. Terence O’Reilly, Emeritus Professor of Spanish at University College Cork and member of the Royal Irish Academy, provides scholars and students of sixteenth century Spanish spirituality and literature, with insights and understandings which are necessary for a more complete correct appreciation of the authors treated’ - Iain Matthew OCD, Teresianum (2023/1).