The Science of Salvation: Spiritual Alchemy in Donne's Final Sermon
In his sermon "Death's Duel," John Donne reveals the occulted similarities between the mystic experiments of the alchemists and the magical transformation of humanity in the process of Christian salvation. The poet demonstrates that Christ shared many qualities with the alchemist'...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
1992
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 1992, Volume: 23, Issue: 3, Pages: 486-493 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In his sermon "Death's Duel," John Donne reveals the occulted similarities between the mystic experiments of the alchemists and the magical transformation of humanity in the process of Christian salvation. The poet demonstrates that Christ shared many qualities with the alchemist's philosopher stone. While the stone's objective was to transform base metal into gold, Christ's role is to transmute base humanity into spiritual gold. Donne emphasizes this correspondence by employing the language of alchemy in his description of death and salvation. The stage of repentance in the alchemical process is equated to the contrition the faithful must undergo before death. The period of transmutation in alchemy involves a violent battering of the metal to release its soul, and this directly relates to the physical abuse often accompanying the human death. Distillation, which is a process of purification, follows transmutation, parallels the decomposition of the human body in the grave, and leads to the final stage in which the noble tincture (philosopher's stone) manifests itself. This last phase is a form of resurrection in which the refined spirit of the metal is restored in the experiment and the refined spirit of humanity is resurrected and assumed into heaven. Donne employs this pseudo-scientific description in his sermon in order to elucidate the often vague and esoteric principles of Christian salvation. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/2542490 |