The fact by itself that this well-known book series now includes a volume dedicated to Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) indicates that medieval and early-modern mysticism has reached the mainstream in academic teaching. This powerful and highly regarded woman writer and mystic not only produced remarkable visionary literature, she also was greatly respected as a religious teacher, making her, perhaps not so surprisingly, very suspect to the Inquisition, which collected all her works in 1575 and tried to keep them inaccessible in perpetuity, although her spiritual autobiography was actually published in 1588.

Mystics of all times and all religions have regularly represented transgressors and embarked on innovative journeys into the mind, exploring the power of a Godhead whom they claim to have witnessed in a life stage, not in a dream or fantasy. So Theresa's work offers, very similar to that of her European parallels from Hildegard of Bingen to Brigit of Sweden, most fascinating insights and perspectives. But how do we teach mystical literature? The present volume attempts to provide us with virtually all the necessary tools to meet this challenge and to help the future teachers get familiar with the basic materials, approaches, methodologies, and contexts. Alison Weber has nicely assembled a rich volume that will certainly satisfy most of the expectations in such a guidebook for (academic) teachers. But it also contains numerous articles that prove to be valuable for the general reader, examining fundamental issues connected with mysticism and how to approach it today in a critical fashion.

After an introduction by the editor, we are informed about the basic material relevant for Teresa of Ávila: first editions; translations; reference works; historical, literary, religious, and theological studies; teaching aids (music, internet resources, illustrated books, films); rounded off with a study by Amanda Powell on the best practices in translating Teresa's work, primarily her Book of Her Life and The Interior Castle. This section is followed by investigations of possible approaches to her work, beginning with historical perspectives concerning mysticism in history (in Spain, by Elizabeth Rhodes), Spanish mysticism, and the Islamic tradition (William Childers), the Jewish family history of Teresa (most fascinating and well argued article by Michael McGaha), Teresa as a feminist (refreshingly convincing essay by Barbara Mujica), and the history of mysticism in seventeenth-century Europe (Cordula van Wyhe).

In a subgroup, three authors examine theoretical methods of interpreting Teresa, such as psychoanalysis (Linda Belau), theories of autobiographies (Sherry Velasco), and feminist epistemology and pedagogy in Teresa's work (Barbara Simerka). The heart of the volume, however, consists of specific teaching recommendations regarding questions how to make mysticism accessible to undergraduates, how to teach Teresa in a Women's Studies classroom, in a Women Writers course, how to teach her to a non-religious audience, and how to teach her in the context of visual representation of female sanctity.

The last section focuses on how to teach specific texts by Teresa, such as Noche oscura, The Interior Castle, or The Book of Foundations. Here we also come across short articles that address teaching contemporary mystical texts, such as Luis de Léon's Noche serena, John of the Cross' La noche oscura, or Luis de Léon's mystical poetry.

This really pleasant and highly useful volume concludes with an extended list of the contributors' biographies, a bibliography, and an index. Although there are some comments on online resources, this section still needs to be elaborated further. Similarly, the representation of Teresa in the history of art requires more depth and breadth, not to speak of the absence of at least a brief biography and a historical survey. Unfortunately, the editor has not bothered to introduce mysticism as such and the larger social-historical, if not also literary-artistic context relevant for mysticism. But overall, this is a very useful book that will appeal both to those who teach Teresa and to those who have a general interest in mysticism and might wonder about how she maintained herself and achieved her status as a visionary.