Delving Into Mystical Creativity: A Dialogue on Mystical Transformation Between Bernard Lonergan and Teresa of Avila

As part of the ongoing theological quest to integrate theology and spirituality, this dissertation explores the link between mysticism and the transformation of the subject and society. Both the mystic Teresa of Avila and the philosopher-theologian Bernard Lonergan contribute to the clarification of the nature of mystical transformation. Giving primacy to Teresa's mystical text, I use her idea of the transformative character of mystical union to explain Lonergan's notion of the dynamic state of being in love in incamational and trinitarian terms. This dissertation begins with an analysis of the context of Teresa's life and works, with a special concentration on her conception of mystical transformation. From this analysis, two key stages of Teresa's mystical process are transposed: prayer of simple union and spiritual marriage. The first of these, Teresa's prayer of simple union, is transposed into Lonergan's religious experience of the gift of God's love. The second, spiritual marriage in the center of the soul, exhibits a transformation of unprecedented extent, suggesting the need to appeal to Lonergan's Christological resources. Thus, spiritual marriage manifests a human psychological constitution analogous to Christ's. In this manner, my analysis demands the expansion of the dynamic state of being in love. Thus, in the next part of the dissertation, I expand Lonergan's notion of the dynamic state of being in love by bringing it in conjunction with Teresa's focus on the 'center of the soul.' Teresa's Christology and trinitarian doctrines assist in further refining this notion. This dissertation concludes with an expanded version of the dynamic state of being in love as eschatological, incarnational, and trinitarian and gives a fruitful account of all the phases of the mystical journey, including the highest stage of spiritual marriage. This dissertation, then, contributes to the development of the basic special categories needed to construct a trinitarian mystical theology, with the intent that such an undertaking may help to reconnect mysticism and political theology.