Carlos EIRE. The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila: A Biography. Princeton University Press, 2019. pp. 259. $26.95 pb. ISBN: 978-0-691-16493-9. Reviewed by Adán E. STEVENS-DIAZ, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. 19122.

This book is not for those who doubt that one can find God “amidst pots and pans.” Nor is it for those who dismiss Teresa’s account of her encounter with God as the exaggerated rantings of a vivid imagination or unsettled mind. While one may learn something regarding Teresa—her personal struggles and accomplishments, her family background and the historical setting upon which her life unfolds—if one is not willing to entertain that the human soul is capable of spiritual union with God, then one would fall short of truly appreciating Teresa’s Vida and Carlos Eire’s attempt to bring it to life into our century.

First published in 1558, El libro de la vida of St. Teresa was written in obedience to her confessor; her writings were scrutinized by Church officials, the Inquisition, her superiors, and even some people outside the convent walls since the account of Vida was privately circulated.  Subsequent to its publication, the original was translated and edited again and again through the centuries.  First threatened by the Inquisition with burning, the text has survived the dissection of sceptics, psychoanalysts and scholars of all stripes. From the beginning, Teresa’s orthodoxy was in question and the many doubts among those who read her account continued even after her death. Was she inspired by God or duped by the devil? Was she gifted spiritually or just a clever writer looking for adulation and attention? Was she a saint or a charlatan?

Carlos Eire answers these questions with a thorough analysis of Teresa’s account of her life in a thoughtful rendering of the historical context. Moreover, he has produced a guide offering a nuanced and insightful interpretation of the text. Eire seems to be telling us that Teresa’s Vida is not a cry for the attention of a few influential people of her time but a clamor from the depth of Teresa’s soul for God’s loving embrace and a genuine account of God’s answer to that clamor.

As part of God’s answer to Teresa’s clamor, Eire looks at depictions of her transverberation and finds in the one by Bernini the most telling.  His own interpretation of Bernini’s sculpture is not only masterfully drawn but exhibits a deep appreciation for art and theological understanding: “Bernini captures with exquisite genius an essential characteristic of Catholic belief inherent in the transverberation itself and all depictions of it: the coincidence of opposites.  Teresa is a virgin experiencing a nuptial encounter with Christ: she is ecstatic, suspended between heaven and earth, evincing pain and bliss simultaneously, physically as well as well as spiritually; and she is dying a martyr’s death but yet very much alive, perhaps more alive than ever . . . Teresa’s strange ecstasy is a mirror image of . . . the suffering Christ who brings eternal bliss to all humans, and of the dying Christ who rises from the grave and lives eternally embodied . . .” (pp. 156-157).

Audaciously, without diminishing the importance of the written text of Teresa’s Vida, Eire puts in rightful perspective the importance of the artistic depictions of the saint, underlining what Pope Gregory I had declared nearly a thousand years before Teresa’s publication of her writings, i.e,: for those who could not read, “images were indeed the libri pauperum, or books of the poor.” Therefore, for many “the visual Teresa was perhaps more significant than the textual Teresa, and seeing her Vida more useful than reading it” (p. 163). And yet, one must not lose sight of the fact that the written text gave rise to the artistic depiction.

After reading this book, there is little room to doubt Teresa’s genuine contribution towards understanding mysticism and the ability of the human soul to transcend worldly obstacles. Teresa’s words may serve even today not as rebuke of those who fail to understand her own search for holiness but as a reminder of what is possible when the soul abandons itself totally to God:  “It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of his goodness make him experience it who may think that I am lying.” (Vida, cap. xxix,17).

Teresa of Avila was an exceptional person and her mystical experiences are not common among the many of us immersed in the daily toils of life.  Rebutting the delusion that one must completely abstain from a life of action in order to attain this union with God, Eire is careful to point out, however, that Teresa’s Vida was precisely that, life in all its fullness.  Her account describes her ups and downs, her trials and tribulations and the happier moments when the success of her efforts at reforming her Carmelite Order could be celebrated.  Hers was a life both of contemplation and action, of moments of ecstasy followed by long periods of spiritual dryness.

This book offers insights not only on Teresa’s and her family’s personal background (one of her grandfathers bought out of a Jewish identity by marrying an influential Spanish woman and taking her name) but on the state of the Carmelite Order and the church at large during her time.  Teresa’s Vida, though written as a nun’s confession following the instruction of her spiritual advisor,deeply touched those who read it while Teresa was still alive. It has continued to have a profound impact upon Christian spirituality for over four and a half centuries.  It has been included in the spiritual reading of consecrated members of religious communities and lay persons alike.

I guess that the best line that describes Teresa’s Vida is given by Eire when he writes that the account is an “outrageously audacious encounter with the divine” (p. 162), and I would add, her courageous stance before a male-dominated church.  After all, besides being a mystic, a theologian, a religious reformer, a Carmelite, a writer, and a Doctor of the Church, Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada was first and foremost a sixteenth-century woman.
The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Carlos Eire would be a useful addition to required readings lists for courses on Christian spirituality, theology and women studies.  Because of the clarity of thought in the analysis and its fluid writing style, I would also recommend it to anyone interested in the lives of the saints or Catholic themes.