“Devout humanism” and its problems

Abstract

This chapter questions the suggestion that has already been made of a spiritual convergence between George Herbert and St. François de Sales. The elimination of turbulence and urgency from the inner life certainly was a goal for St. François, but it was certainly not consistently or predominantly so for the George Herbert of the lyrics. But what of the “sweetness” connection? They both saw the religious life as providing pleasure, including in the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. But this does not mean that their Eucharistic theologies were identical, a consideration that must enter the comparison. There is a great deal more “affliction” in the religious life as Herbert presents it than as St. François does – which almost certainly derives from “doctrine,” from differing theological pictures of the postlapsarian human self. St. François, following the Catholic and especially Teresian mystical tradition, does not want to distinguish sharply between physical and spiritual “sweetness.” Herbert is clear on the distinction, though willing to use the analogy. Herbert’s deliberately contentious view and poetry contrasts with the staidness of much of what he reacted against in continental thinking. Close analysis of these texts indicates that, contrary to much recent criticism, doctrine matters, shaping the tenor and substance of life.