Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium

Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 267
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780674973114
ISBN-13 : 0674973119
Rating : 4/5 (14 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium by : Youval Rotman

Download or read book Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium written by Youval Rotman and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-19 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Roman and Byzantine Near East, the holy fool emerged in Christianity as a way of describing individuals whose apparent madness allowed them to achieve a higher level of spirituality. Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium examines how the figure of the mad saint or mystic was used as a means of individual and collective transformation in the period between the birth of Christianity and the rise of Islam. It presents a novel interpretation in revealing the central role that psychology plays in social and historical development. Early Christians looked to figures who embodied extremes of behavior—like the holy fool, the ascetic, the martyr—to redefine their social, cultural, and mental settings by reading new values in abnormal behavior. Comparing such forms of extreme behavior in early Christian, pagan, and Jewish societies, and drawing on theories of relational psychoanalysis, anthropology, and sociology of religion, Youval Rotman explains how the sanctification of figures of extreme behavior makes their abnormality socially and psychologically functional. The sanctification of abnormal mad behavior created a sphere of ambiguity in the ambit of religious experience for early Christians, which brought about a deep psychological shift, necessary for the transition from paganism to Christianity. A developing society leaves porous the border between what is normal and abnormal, between sanity and insanity, in order to use this ambiguity as a means of change. Rotman emphasizes the role of religion in maintaining this ambiguity to effect a social and psychological transformation.


Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium Related Books

Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium
Language: en
Pages: 267
Authors: Youval Rotman
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-09-19 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the Roman and Byzantine Near East, the holy fool emerged in Christianity as a way of describing individuals whose apparent madness allowed them to achieve a
Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium
Language: en
Pages: 267
Authors: Youval Rotman
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-09-19 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Prologue. Insanity and religion -- Part I. Sanctified insanity: between history and psychology -- The paradox that inhabits ambiguity -- Meanings of insanity --
Miracle Tales from Byzantium
Language: en
Pages: 473
Authors:
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-05-14 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Miracles occupied a unique place in medieval and Byzantine life and thought. This volume makes available three collections of miracle tales never before transla
Byzantine Slavery and the Mediterranean World
Language: en
Pages: 336
Authors: Youval Rotman
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Looking at the Byzantine concept of slavery within the context of law, the labour market, medieval politics, and religion, the author illustrates how these cont
Inventing Superstition
Language: en
Pages: 320
Authors: Dale B. Martin
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-07-01 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Roman author Pliny the Younger characterizes Christianity as “contagious superstition”; two centuries later the Christian writer Eusebius vigorously den