Mystic bodies and ascetic souls. Adjustments of the spirit in Teresa of Avila’s experience (1515-1582)

Abstract

The present Ph.D. dissertation focuses on the anthropological roots involved in the Hispanic female mystic spiritualism of the Sixteenth-Century. Through Teresa of Avila’s writings, I analyze some mystic and spiritual meanings concerning the experiences of her body and her soul. Teresa of Avila worked in a spiritual path as a way for constructing a proper self. I inquire into the role that her relationship with a transcendental being played in the construction of herself. I also explored Teresa of Avila’s spiritual administration of the reformed Carmelite monastic order, concerning the body and soul training of her community’s nuns. In her recommendations and explicit explanations we can find rich material which helps us to understand some categorizations and practices that shaped a certain modern self.