This book contains eleven essays, prefaced by a general introduction, on a set of related themes: the characteristic traits and diverse functions of holy men; the fashioning of saints out of a small minority of holy men and a number of other individuals of high social status but with more dubious spiritual credentials; the literary processes involved in the construction of hagiographical texts; the role of hagiography in the creation and diffusion of cults; and the worldly interests and other purposes which were served by hagiographical texts and the cults which they propagated. These themes are explored across a wide range of social and cultural milieux, extending from the late antique east Mediterranean through the early medieval Frankish world and Byzantium to Russia and Islam in the high middle ages. The work of Peter Brown, in particular his article, 'The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity', first published in 1971, forms a constant point of reference, acknowledged by the contributors as having irradiated the whole field with fresh, provocative, and illuminating ideas.

About the Author
James Howard-Johnston is University Lecturer in Byzantine Studies, Modern History Faculty, University of Oxford Paul Antony Hayward is Lecturer in History at the University of Otago, New Zealand.

Reviews
This volume has greatly extended the range of answers ... The essays in this impressive collection revisit, or rediscover, the holy man, over a very wide geographical and chronological range. * Gillian Clark, Times Literary Supplement *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199253548
Author James Howard-Johnston
Format Paperback
Page Count 308
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 134mm * 17mm