Deaf Gain and Spiritual Freakery: Juan González Arintero's Mystical (R)evolution

Abstract: This essay examines the life and thought of Juan González Arintero (1860–1928), Dominican theologian and Servant of God, through the lens of Disability Studies. Best known for restoring mystical theology in the early twentieth century and for advancing a universal call to holiness that anticipated Vatican II, Arintero insisted that all Christians, whether religious or laypeople, were invited to contemplative union with God. He disseminated this vision through publications, classes at the Angelicum in Rome, public lectures, and spiritual direction, influencing figures such as Ramiro de Maeztu, Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, and, indirectly, Pope John Paul II. While biographers have acknowledged his deafness, no study has explored how his disability shaped his theology, ministry, and networks. Drawing on concepts such as Deaf Gain, narrative prosthesis, freakery, misfitting, and crip time, this essay argues that Arintero's embodied difference disrupted the theological and institutional norms of his era and gave voice to spiritual women. Following Alison Kafer's suggestion to let questions take precedence over answers, I propose that testimonies about Arintero's difference open new possibilities for understanding mystical theology and Catholic reform.