Page 92 - Nada temas, dice ella

delegitimisation of the regime. The Constitutions Lumen Gentium, Gaudi- um et Spes and in particular Dignitatis Humanae would become a reference point in the writings of theologians critical of the regime and the political and religious foundations of National Catholicism. In 1970s, the magazine Iglesia Viva dedicated a special edition to the analysis of the phenomenon in its many guises, including the link be- tween the language of rituals, forms of devotion and the Church’s tempo- ral option. One consequence of this choice is highlighted by the definition of National Catholicism offered by the theologian Augusto Guerra – included as an epigraph – i.e., the moulding
of a ‘religious society’ adapted to the urgent needs of the moment, a reflec- tion of a pragmatic and political use
of religion. Among the fundamental contributions, the book El experimento del nacional-catolicismo by Álvarez Bolado is worthy of note. The theolo- gian, using the tools of political and re- ligious sociology, brings into focus the features of a ‘political theology [that was] anti-modern and profoundly dis- trusting of Europe. Catholic is chiefly understood in the sense of Counter- Reformative, and is therefore sectari- an’.19 In the wake of the aggiornamento of the Second Vatican Council – which was also implemented on a cultural level – the figure and work of Teresa of Jesus, in a Spain looking towards the transition to democracy, were subject
to a thorough review by Carmelite scholars. The importance of histori- cal method is apparent in Introducción a la lectura de Santa Teresa de Jesús,
a collection of essays by Carmelite scholars. In the preface, Alberto Barri- entos points out the pecularity of Ter- esian doctrine, underlining that ‘the historical aspect in Teresa’s oeuvre is inseparable from her doctrinal teach- ing’.20 A similar opinion is held by the Carmelite historian Teófanes Egido, the author of important essays on the need for a ‘historical revision’ of the spirituality, biography and writings
of the Carmelite saint in the light of her condition as a ‘new Christian’.21 In turn, Daniel de Pablo Maroto, Tomás Álvarez, Ildefonso Moriones and Ot- ger Steggink have taken part in a well- structured critical redefinition aimed at bringing out the doctrinal complex- ity and the project for monastic life.
This renewed frame of reference offered analytical and interpretative tools that could also be used to rewrite Teresa’s biography. The book Teresa d’Avila Biografia di una scrittrice by Rosa Rossi – published in Italy in 1983 (reprinted in 2015 at the same time as the Spanish edition) – should be con- sidered a fundamental turning point with regard to the hagiographic and baroque tradition; Rossi ‘manages to bring together and harmonise differ- ent perspectives, from literary history to philological linguistics and psycho- analysis’.22 In the reconstruction of
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