Sökande efter Gud i den dunkla natten : En studie av dialektiken mellan Guds frånvaro och närvaro i ljuset av Johannes av Korsets teologi inom nutida teologiskt tänkande

The aim of this essay is, in the light of Juan de la Cruz poem Canciones de alma, to study the dialectic of Gods absence and presence in contemporary theological thinking. Central to the study is Gianni Vattimo, David Tracy and Gustavo Gutierrez, three important voices in contemporary theological discourse. The method used is a comparative text analysis in combination with a conceptual analysis. In a comparative way I analyse how the concepts of God's absence and presence is depicted by Juan de la Cruz and of the three contemporary theological thinkers. Essential for Juan is the dark night in which the soul is purified on its way to God. In the dark night the human is freed from her self-orientation and deprived of the faculties that create meaning, she then experiences life as meaningless and that nothing is. Yet is there something, a friendly presence that engenders faith. The three theological thinkers each describe a false image of God, which in different ways is marked by the experience of modernity. Gutierrez ́s description of Job ́s fate portrays that experience. Crucial for Job is when he’s driven into the night. The theological frames of reference collapse, the meta-narrative, with its meta-truths is shattered and a new image of God emerges. Juan de la Cruz, Vattimo, Tracy and Guiterrez all view the former image of God in the light of the new image of God, therefor the new image of God is perceived as more authentic. Juan ́s main contribution is his testimony that it is in the night that we are closest to God, when the image of God is destabilized, it is in the night the human can experience a friendly presence that leads one in the dark