Ecstasy as Polemic: Mysticism and the Catholic Reformation

In the 16th century, Protestants rejected the possibility of mystical encounters between humans and God. Catholics responded in various ways, but perhaps most forcefully by continuing to claim mystical experiences and by emphasizing extreme forms of mysticism. This paper analyzes how that rejection affected the development of Catholic mysticism at that time, especially in the case of Saint Teresa of Avila (1515–82), whose ecstasies were closely examined by the Spanish Inquisition, but were subsequently approved and promoted as exemplary of the truths professed by the Catholic Church