Golden Age-Spanish Mysticism

Catalog description

This course is a survey of the most prominent authors of the Spanish Golden Age mystics - Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross, whose writings reflect the religious, spiritual, and intellectual currents of Counter-Reformation Spain. In the form of an independent study, students will examine the ascetical, mystical, and Illuminist trends of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as the most important themes these writers developed in early modern Iberia: conversion and authority, vice and virtue, penance and pilgrimage, devotion and humor. These themes will be explored in the majors works (primary sources) of these authors, which will be complemented by secondary source readings and each student's independent research. The writers studied in this course and their texts will also be viewed in the context of the greater literary and artistic production of the Spanish Golden Age.