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Document Details :

Title: 'Determined Determination'
Subtitle: Teresian Epistemological Template for Spirituality
Author(s): OFILADA MINA, Macario
Journal: Studies in Spirituality
Volume: 20    Date: 2010   
Pages: 217-237
DOI: 10.2143/SIS.20.0.2061150

Abstract :
This introductory study to St. Teresa of Jesus’s ‘determined determination’ commences with a panoramic exploration of the principal interpretations made of it. Taking note of the limitations and accomplishes of said studies, the essay, for the first time and in the light of the new concordances of the Teresian texts, makes a philological analysis. Combining philology, through an expert study of the Teresian texts in their original language and making an intelligible rendering in English, the author brings to fore philosophical and theological studies to point out the anthropological and theological poles in Teresian spirituality. In the light of the epistemological focus of this essay, by affirming that Teresa goes beyond cognition and opts for certainty in her critical examination of the spiritual process, ‘determined determination’ is revealed as a key concept which contains all the germ of the Teresian spiritual program. Determined determination is thus Teresa’s template, model, methodical reflection, blueprint for spirituality and is the point of departure for a scientific (epistemological or from certain knowledge) appreciation of the spiritual way.

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