Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 516 pages
- Published by: Tan Books & Publishers December 1997
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0895556030
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0895556035
-
Book Dimensions:
8.2 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
- Weighs: 1.6 pounds
Product Review
Written at the command of her confessors, the books of this 16th century Spanish saint and mystic (a beloved friend to another great Spanish mystic, John of the Cross), St. Teresa's writings remain classics of Christian mysticism. Less abstract and theoretical than her friend, Teresa's works are no less noteworthy for the brilliance of their ability to convey with both warmth and rigor some flavor of this most extraordinary experience: union with God. Her autobiography may well be the best entry point into her work and into the great mystical literature of the Christian church. Here she describes her early life and education, the conflicts and crisis she underwent, culminating in her determination to enter fully into the path of prayer. Following a description of the contemplative life, which she explores in four stages, she returns to her own life in order to describe (in erotic language reminiscent of the
Song of Songs) the ecstatic experiences given to her by God.
If the idea of mysticism seems hopelessly otherworldly to you, try a taste of St. Teresa, who can be as down to earth as Oprah--and sometimes just as amusing.
--Doug Thorpe
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Famous Carmelite classic in a wonderful traditional translation. her spiritual struggles, vision of her potential place in Hell, mystical graces - yet she remained very down to earth. Full of strong Catholic faith and robust common sense. One of hte most admirable women of all time! Nice, large type. Imprimatur.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
St. Teresa's autobiography records her life up to the age of fifty. She is a simple woman, her writing not being anything more that the thoughts that come to her mind. She states in the letter that accompanied this work to Friar Garcia De Toledo that "Some things...may be badly expressed, and others put down twice, for I have had so little time for the task that I have not been able to reread what I have written." In spite of this, St. Teresa reveals mystical and spiritual wonders in beautiful description. Rather than a history of her works and the events that determine her worldly life, this book is more of a spiritual autobiography. She recounts her childhood desires and the early yearning of her soul to be with God. She talks of her illnesses and how she came closer to God through them. St. Teresa gives her description of different levels of prayer, which appear in both the Way of Perfection and the Interior Castle. She tells of the ways in which God spoke to her, at first in subtle manners to more salient ones later in her life. She received an increased number of visions as she advanced spiritually. God also begins to speak to her more directly. All this comforted her and guided her as she established the convent of St. Joseph's at Avila. In the convent's establishment, St. Teresa describes the opposition that she faced and her financial worries. Endowed with a will to reject the things of this world, she pressed on, setting a rule of poverty for her Avilan sisters. Throughout The Life, she wanders from her main point to give her understanding of several spiritual matters. The book is also permeated with her humility and self-abasement. Reading through this autobiography will benefit anyone wishing to read the Way of Perfection or the Interior Castle, her two other most notable works.
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