This module is part of the Distance Learning Website of the Carmelite Institute of Britain and Ireland (CIBI)
This module, ‘Reading St Teresa of Avila’, is designed to enable students to engage critically with two major writings of St Teresa, and in doing so to develop their capacity for independent research and for study of her work at postgraduate level. An introduction to St Teresa is provided by Christopher O’Donnell O.Carm in ‘Teresa of Jesus’, module DO5 in CIBI’s Diploma in Carmelite Studies. The present MA module builds on this foundation, so you will find that some of the units or sets of units in this MA module will require you to read selected units of the DO5 module as preparatory work. This material will be provided for you as part of this module and it is listed below under the heading of required reading for each of the units of this module.
Structure and Assessment
The module is divided into ten units, each of which both introduces the student to a critical evaluation of a particular text or texts and/or provides guidelines for a similar critical evaluation of another assigned text or texts. The ten units are organised into three blocks, the first of two units (units 1 and 2), and the second and third of five units (units 3 to 6 and units 7 to 10). The first two units (units 1 and 2) focus on Teresa’s life and the Spain in which she lived. The next four units (units 3-6) concentrate on one text, the autobiographical account known as The Book of The Life. The final four units (units 7-10) examine her mature work, The Interior Castle.
You will receive units 1 on week 1 and you will receive unit 2 on weeks 2. On week 3, you will receive the formative assessment, which you will need to complete and return within one week. This formative assessment is designed to allow you to an opportunity to answer a series of questions, and to receive feedback from the tutor about your answers, in a way that it does not form part of your final marks. Completing it, and reflecting on the feedback you receive, should help you to understand what is required of you in completing the two assessed questionnaires.
On week 3, you will also receive unit 3 and you will receive units 4 to 6 on weeks 4 to 6. On week 7, you will receive Questionnaire 1, which is based on units 3 to 6 and which is the first of the two assessed questionnaires. Each of the assessed questionnaires constitutes 10% of the final mark for this module. You will need to complete and return your answers to Questionnaire 1 within one week.
On week 7, you will also receive unit 7 and you will receive units 8-10 on weeks 8 to 10. On week 11, you will receive Questionnaire 2, which is based on units 7-10 and you will need to complete and return your answers to Questionnaire 2 within one week.
On week 11, you will also receive a list of three assigned topics and you will be required to write a 4,000 word paper on your chosen topic which will need to be completed and returned within two weeks.
Both the answers to the two assessed questionnaires and the final paper must include appropriate footnotes or endnotes completed according to the norms approved by Cibi. Any sources quoted or used as the basis for any material submitted for assessment, whether from printed material, internet sites, or any other media, must be properly referenced.
St Teresa’s Writings
You are advised to begin reading, or rereading, the works of St Teresa that will be studied in this module (The Book of The Life and The Interior Castle) as soon as possible. It may be helpful when doing so to consult the following work of reference which contains short biographies of people to whom St Teresa refers in her writings:
E. Allison Peers, A Handbook to the Life and Times of St Teresa and St John of the Cross (London: Burns Oates, 1954).
There are two standard translations into English of St Teresa’s prose works, both reprinted on several occasions:
1. The Complete Works of Saint Teresa of Jesus, trans E. Allison Peers, 3 vols (London and New York: Sheed and Ward, 1944-1946). Two further volumes, The Letters of St Teresa, were published in 1950.
2. The Collected Works of St Teresa of Avila, trans Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodríguez, OCD, 3 vols (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976-1985). A second edition (revised) of volume one appeared in 1987. Two further volumes, The Collected Letters of St Teresa of Avila, were published between 2001 and 2007.
Bear in mind when using these translations that the first (Peers), though a little dated in its style, is usually more accurate and reliable than the second (Kavanaugh-Rodríguez).
Spanish Editions
This module does not assume that you have a knowledge of Spanish, but if you are able to read the language you are encouraged to consult St Teresa’s writings in the original. Critical editions of the Obras completas include those published by the Editorial de Espiritualidad (Madrid), the Editorial Monte Carmelo (Burgos) and the Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (Madrid). The following work of reference is also recommended:
Diccionario de Santa Teresa: Doctrina e Historia, ed. Tomás Álvarez (Burgos: Monte Carmelo, 2003; second edition 2006).
Assigned and Further Reading
The textbook assigned for this module is:
Tomás Alvarez, St Teresa of Avila: 100 Themes on Her Life and Work, trans Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 2011). Note that in this edition there are occasional misprints in the text.
You will need to locate this book in some Carmelite or General library to which you have access or, failing that, purchase it for yourself.
The assigned reading for each of the ten units of the module is listed in the table below. The material other than in the two module textbooks will be made available as part of the module, but you might also consider seeking further reading material on St Teresa in the library of one of the houses of Carmelite friars or nuns located near you. Some suggestions for further reading will be included in each of the module units. In their submitted assessments, students should will be expected to show that they have engaged with both the relevant sections of the assigned textbooks and with the relevant assigned reading.
Unit | Assigned Reading |
1 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
The following reading will be supplied:
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2 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
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3 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
The following reading will be supplied:
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4 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
The following reading will be supplied:
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5 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
The following reading will be supplied:
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6 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
The following reading will be supplied:
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7 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
The following reading will be supplied:
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8 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
The following reading will be supplied:
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9 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
The following reading will be supplied:
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10 | From the module textbook (which you will have to locate for yourself):
The following reading will be supplied:
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Module Tutor: Sheila Grimwood
The module is divided into 10 units, with a formative assessment and two questionnaires, spread over the period of the module, and a final examination at the end.
Once posted, each unit will be available until the end of the module. The dates on which each of the units, and the other material for this module is available in the calendar in the Student Section.
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Please click HERE to access the STUDENT SECTION for module start and end dates
During the listed dates, you can click on the relevant unit to access it. Once you have successfully accessed and studied the material in each set of units, please click on the relevant Formative Assessment or Questionnaire to access it when it is launched. Read the questions and write your answers under each question. Then upload your answers to the Turnitin website.
One question must be chosen from the three final Examination Questions posted and your paper answering the question of your choice should be uploaded to the Turnitin website by the required date.
Copyright:
The author of the course holds the copyright to this material (text, graphic and other); distribution to family or friends, or publication (including on internet) of any part of the material is not permitted without the author’s explicit written permission.
© Terence O'Reilly and Cibi