Saint Teresa of Avila as an Interspiritual Mystic
<p>Teresa of Avila’s ‘epic life’ inspired George Elliot’s book Middlemarch, and even Florence Nightingale described Teresa as ‘the most active of the mystics’. Teresa was a Spanish Carmelite Nun, who reformed the Discalced Carmelite Orders for stricter observance. ‘Discalced’ means ‘Barefooted’ — hence, no shoes for vows of poverty. However, it is lesser known that Teresa of Avila was born of first generation Jewish ‘Conversos’ in Southern Andalucian Spain which was strongly influenced by both Jewish Mystical Kabbalah as well as Sufi Islamic Mysticism, after centuries of Islamic Rule. Therefore, Teresa’s spirituality and mysticism has been argued by academic scholars, Green & Swetleiki, to be not just Christian but indeed a blend of Christian, Islamic-Sufism and Jewish Kabbalah.</p>
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