Approaches to Teaching Teresa of Ávila and the Spanish Mystics (review)

Approaches to Teaching Teresa of Ávila and the Spanish Mystics, at almost 300 pages, is one of the longest editions in the Approaches to Teaching World Literature series, whose books usually end at around 200 pages. The book is divided into two parts, "Materials" and "Approaches", with the Approaches section organized into four subcategories: Historical Perspectives, Theoretical Perspectives, Specific Course Contexts, and Teaching Specific Texts. Perhaps this volume's sheer length and its remarkable variety of essays from twenty-seven highly qualified contributors reflect how challenging it is to teach the Spanish mystics to postmillennial students. As Alison Weber aptly states in the introduction, the Spanish mystics and their works seem "arcane, archaic or simply bizarre" to today's undergraduates (2). In addition to the students' lack of historical background, instructors must consider two more stumbling blocks: student frustration with reading early modern Spanish, with its challenging vocabulary and unfamiliar grammatical structures, and their apprehension in dealing with overtly religious material in the classroom. Christian religious themes are a sticky subject for class discussion in our postmodern society, where students may take offense, fear offending others, or slip into a state of intellectual laziness in which vague pop psychology dominates the conversation. The professor must guide the class with care, creating an atmosphere of respectful dialogue. After overcoming these challenges, instructors will ask students to interpret the mystics' spiritual love poetry, which utilizes erotic images and sensuous vocabulary to explain the ineffable mystical experience: the soul's union with the Beloved, Christ. Weber notes that several respondents in a 2004 MLA survey reported that the mystics' use of human sexuality to explain divine ecstasy causes shock and rejection in some students, who view this as sacrilegious (6). Howard Mancing confronts this thorny issue head on in his essay "Reading 'Noche Oscura' Twice." At the beginning of class, Mancing has the students read a beautiful amatory poem by Juan de Yepes, in which a young woman steals away from her home to meet her lover (202). After discussing the obvious eroticism of this work, Mancing introduces the students to the Carmelite Juan de Yepes, also known as Saint John of the Cross. Then the students reread the same poem and reinterpret the sensual imagery: it is the soul, rather than a young woman, leaving the body to be united with Christ, not a human lover (203). By allowing the students to discover the wonders of allegory for themselves, Mancing foments a truly student-driven discussion of these potentially tricky issues.

In two fascinating essays that can help teachers build a strong framework for students, "Spanish Mysticism and the Islamic Tradition" and "Teresa of Ávila and the Question of Jewish Influence," William Childers and Michael McGaha offer intriguing opportunities to connect Spanish mysticism with non-Christian religious traditions. Childers and McGaha explore the links between Teresa of Ávila's works and the spiritual writings of other Abrahamic religions, specifically Sufi mysticism and Jewish Kabbalah/Hekhalot traditions. Other contributors approach Teresa of Ávila and the Spanish mystics from the socio-historical context of Catholic Spain in the era of Protestant Reformation. Elizabeth Rhodes's essay "Mysticism in History: The Case of Spain's Golden Age" is essential reading for any professor preparing a lecture on the unique social atmosphere of Counter Reformation Spain. In "Making Mysticism Accessible to Undergraduates," Lisa Vollendorf imparts pragmatic advice on teaching the Spanish mystics to students with little historical background in European history. Several other authors emphasize teaching Teresa of Ávila within the uniquely Spanish and Catholic context, with a critical eye on the role of women in Church history. Marta Vicente's innovative approach in "Successful Mystics and Failed Mystics: Teaching Teresa of Ávila in the Women's Studies Classroom," is of particular interest to anyone teaching Spanish mysticism, not just women's studies specialists. Vicente challenges her students to examine several cases of unsuccessful mystics and to explain why these charismatic nuns, who had powerful devotees during...