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This innovative book offers an original insight into the context and times of St Teresa of Avila (1515 - 1582) as well as exploring her contemporary relevance from the perspective of some of the foremost thinkers and scholars in the Teresian field today including Professors Julia Kristeva, Rowan Williams and Bernard McGinn. As well as these academic approaches there will be chapters by friars and nuns of the Carmelite order living out the Carmelite charism in today's world. The book addresses both theory and practice, and crosses traditional disciplinary and denominational boundaries - including medieval studies, philosophy, psychology, pastoral and systematic theology - thus demonstrating her continuing relevance in a variety of contemporary multi-disciplinary areas.
List of contents
Introduction
Part One: Teresa in Her Context
- True Confessions: Augustine and Teresa of Avila on the Mystical Self
Prof. Bernard McGinn
- From Carmel to Avila
Fr Wilfrid McGreal OCarm
- Mystical Affinities – St Teresa and Jean Gerson
Prof. Peter Tyler
- Teresa of Avila: Negative Theologian?
Dr Edward Howells
Part Two: The Impact of Teresa
- Teresa, the Eucharist and the Reformation
Dr Rowan Williams
- Teresa - Her Vocation as Founder
Fr Matthew Blake OCD
- St Teresa: Witness to Christ’s Resurrection
Fr Iain Matthew OCD
Part Three: Teresa in the 21st Century
- The Passion According to St Teresa of Avila
Prof. Julia Kristeva
- Wise Action in a World of Suffering and Injustice - Teresa’s Vision for Today
Prof. Gillian Ahlgren
- Living the Teresian Tradition in the 21st Century – Thoughts from Praxis
Sr Jo Robson OCD, Sr Mary of St Joseph OCD, Sr Philomena Sargeant OCD
About the author
Prof. Peter Tyler is Professor of Pastoral Theology and Spirituality at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. He is also a spiritual director and registered psychotherapist. His recent publications include The Pursuit of the Soul: Psychoanalysis, Soul-Making and the Christian Tradition (T & T Clark, 2016), Teresa of Avila: Doctor of the Soul (Bloomsbury 2013), The Bloomsbury Guide to Christian Spirituality (Bloomsbury 2012, co-edited with Richard Woods) and The Return to the Mystical: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Teresa of Avila and the Christian Mystical Tradition (Continuum 2011). He has contributed much to the ongoing debate between psychology and spirituality and is Co-Editor of Vinayasadhana, a new journal for Psycho-Spiritual formation.
Dr Edward Howells is Senior Lecturer in Christian Spirituality at Heythrop College, University of London. Publications include John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila: Mystical Knowing and Selfhood (Crossroad 2002); Sources of Transformation: Revitilising Christian Spirituality (Continuum 2010, co-edited with Peter Tyler); and various journal articles and book chapters on Christian spirituality and mystical theology. He is currently working on the Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology, co-edited with Mark McIntosh (Oxford, forthcoming 2017).
