Lesson 3 mysticism – st teresa of avila
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Transcript of Lesson 3 mysticism – st teresa of avila
Mysticism – St Teresa of Avila
By the end of this lesson you will have:
•Discovered who St Teresa was and why she is
influential for mysticism• Studied her Watered
Garden and Interior Castle analogies
• Practised an exam question on St Teresa
St Teresa
• Also known as ‘Teresa of Jesus’• Claimed her ‘visions’ gave an insight into the nature of
God• Claimed to reach a ‘spiritual marriage’ in 1572 with Jesus• She was the first to catalogue ‘stages’ in mystical
experience• Her accounts of her own experience gave a scientific
description of the Christian ‘life of prayer’• Her ‘protocol’ for identifying religious experience was
threefold...
St Teresa
• 1. The experience should be within the traditions of the Church
• 2. The experience should be discussed with a spiritual advisor
• 3. There should be some sort of change in the life of the person
Watered Garden and Interior Castle
• St Teresa used analogies to describe her mystical experiences.• Why might Teresa need to use analogies top describe her
mystical experience?• Teresa describes her experience with God through ‘stages’ of
prayer. • This again relates to the ladder of ‘climbing’ to Christ
• TASK: Using your workbook and the picture sheet, transfer Teresa’s analogies onto the sheet in easy to understand language. It must be thorough enough, however, to use as revision.
Quickfire Questions
• 1. What, according to Miller, are the five main characteristics of all mystical experiences?
• 2. What vision did St Teresa of Avila see that inspired her to a life of prayer?
• 3. What metaphor does Teresa employ to describe the various stages of prayer?
• 4. How many mansions were in the interior castle and what did they represent?
Grade Boosts
• When writing about mystics it is important that you demonstrate to the examiner how they showed ‘mysticism’ in practice.
• You have to talk about their contributions to mystical experience and the various ways that they may have done this
• You should make FREQUENT reference to their writings and support your comments.
Exam Question
• Explain the life and work of St Teresa of Avila (30)