Abstract

PIOVEZAN, Gustavo. Rhetorical notes on the concept of prayer in Teresa of Ávila: towards a mystical pedagogy. Educação e Filosofia [online]. 2021, vol.35, n.75, pp.1245-1266.  Epub Jan 16, 2024. ISSN 1982-596X.  https://doi.org/10.14393/revedfil.v35n75a2021-59384.

In this paper, I present some reflections resulting from readings on Teresa of Ávila philosophical and religious thought. My objectives are focused on identifying theoretical elements that are linked to education in the Renaissance Modern thought in Spain. Among the concepts investigated, I highlight the relationship between teaching, prayer and praxis in Christian discourse, inferring, in this context, the existence of a Teresian pedagogy. The focus of my analysis is on Interior castle, which, from a rhetorical point of view, is configured as an account of the experience lived by the author. This fact leads me to reflect on the writings of the Carmelite nun as a certain type of teaching, based on mystical experience. Thus, the structure of the concept of prayer in Teresa is revealed in a meditation practice that generates and impels knowledge of oneself and for the other. Prayer, then, can be apprehended just like any other kind of instruction (technique), through stages (method), and presenting a result: the union between the soul and God (mystical knowledge). From this union results a subjective type of knowledge, namely: mystical knowledge.

Keywords : Prayer; Technique; Teaching, Rhetoric; Knowledge.

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