A theology of grace in Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle

Spiritual Life, Fall 2003 by Zuger, Susan

BY THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, it had become a crime to express any theological opinion other than one explicitly sanctioned by the Catholic Church. Religious revolution had profoundly damaged the moral and economic power of the Church, and the Catholic hierarchy was determined to preserve its authority. Aggressive inquisitions had become common practice, and how one voiced an opinion on doctrinal issues could mean the difference between life and death.

It is in this hostile climate that Teresa of Avila wrote her book Interior Castle. In it she articulates a theology of grace that deserves attention. In order to demonstrate this theology, I will discuss the tempest surrounding the issue of grace during the sixteenth century, and then show how Teresa of Avila articulates a new doctrine of grace in Interior Castle.

Historical Context

In order to understand the magnitude of Teresa's development of a new doctrine of grace, it is important to understand the tempestuous climate of the sixteenth-century Church. Born in Avila, Spain, in 1515, Teresa witnessed great ecclesiastical upheaval during her lifetime. Teresa was only a girl when Martin Luther was excommunicated for his refusal to recant his ideas. His teaching was condemned, but the avalanche of reformation in the Church had taken hold. By the time of his death in 1546, the Lutheran church was well established over large areas of Germany, and Protestantism was spreading to other parts of the world. By 1525, Ulrich Zwingli was radically reforming Church policy in Switzerland, and, by 1536, the French reformer John Calvin was busy spreading his own flavor of Protestantism. Protestant doctrine in various forms was catching on rapidly over much of Western Europe.

At the same time, a Catholic reformation was taking place. Begun as a movement of spiritual and moral renewal, by 1540 its focus had changed to address the pressing need to combat Protestantism. Local inquisitions and courts, designed to root out nonbelievers, began to take action against heretical theology. The Roman Inquisition was reestablished in 1542 to rid Italy of heresy, and French parliaments were actively trying heretics. Of all the inquisitions popping up, the Spanish Inquisition was by far the most dangerous. By the end of its reign of terror, more than 300,000 Spaniards had been killed.1

The Spanish Inquisition was founded to purify the nation of heretics. Spain was home to a multitude of belief systems including Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism. The leaders of Spain wanted to unify the country into a strong nation for many reasons, but perhaps primarily because they were on the verge of becoming one of the wealthiest nations of the time. Ferdinand and Isabella chose Catholicism as the way to unite Spain and used the Spanish Inquisition as the purifying fire.

They began by driving out Jews, Protestants, and other nonbelievers, but soon no Spaniard was safe. The Catholic Church and the pope tried to intervene but were unsuccessful because of the unlimited power that had been given to the crown. The Spanish Inquisition took on a life of its own. Even the clergy and those tucked inside the quiet confines of the convent were not protected. Teresa of Avila, herself, was investigated by the Spanish Inquisitors.

In this stormy climate, anything could become an issue if it did not strictly adhere to the Catholic doctrine being defined at the Council of Trent (1542-65). The papal officials at this Council "proposed that doctrine be the first subject on the agenda."2 Issue by issue, "Luther's teachings on justification, grace, free will, and the Mass were pronounced anathema.... Trent's formulation of Church doctrine...would stand firm for centuries."3 The Council left room for no ambiguities as it set forth a systematic ordering of Roman Catholic doctrine. It was now clear who was a Protestant and who a Catholic.

The Issue of Grace

Grace was a major source of division between Catholics and Protestants. Grace was the issue that caused Luther to reassess his life as an Augustinian monk. He discovered he was unable to find peace in the traditional Catholic teachings, which gave equal weight to both faith and good works: "Luther suffocated with the overwhelming sense that he was weak and impure, and that every effort he made to satisfy God's justice and righteousness, to merit salvation, was a failure."4 He eventually found his solace and solution in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He began to understand Paul's reference to righteousness to mean "that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely faith."5

Luther became convinced that salvation depends only on the freely given grace of God, which is accepted in faith. Human effort or merit is worthless. This doctrine of justification by grace through faith became a cornerstone of classical Protestant theology.

The Council of Trent was also reasserting that human beings are saved by faith in conjunction with good works. This implied that the performance of good works was a necessary criterion for achieving salvation.