Santa Teresa’s four errors: refl ections for a feminist mystical writing

Abstract

The essay proposes a reflection, based on the experience of error and wandering, about Santa Teresa d’Ávila’s mystical writing, in conjunction with the proposal of Feminist Theology and with the comprehension of the divine resulting from this reflection. In the teresian text, we highlight that the
taking of critical position in the place occupied by women involves a relationship: with orthography;
with the condition of women facing a patriarchal and male institution; with an image of God beyond the masculine and the feminine; and with an experiential comprehension of the body as affirmative human reality. Thus, we intend to affirm that the mystical experience, according to, but not exclusively to Santa Teresa, can be given as a form of critical awareness about the socio-institutional place and
the significance of women