Hagiography and Religious Truth: Case Studies in the Abrahamic and Dharmic Traditions

by Rico G. Monge (Editor), Kerry P. C. San Chirico (Editor), Rachel J. Smith (Editor)

Overview

The hagiographic materials from the world's religions can tell us much about the beliefs and practices of the people, yet the limited degree to which hagiography has been used as an instrument for understanding diverse religious traditions is surprising. Hagiography and Religious Truth provides a clearer understanding of the ways hagiography functions to disclose truth for practitioners and suggests various ways that these underexploited sources enrich our comprehension of broader issues in religious studies.

This volume provides a much-needed cross-cultural and interreligious comparison of saints' lives, iconography, and devotional practices. The contributors show that hagiographic sources can in fact be “truths of manifestation,” which function as vehicles for prefiguring, configuring, and refiguring religious, social, and cultural life. The editors argue that some meanings simply cannot be communicated effectively through historical-critical methodologies. By exploring how hagiography functions throughout several of the world's religious traditions, this volume illustrates how various modes of hagiography articulate religious ideas and uniquely represent conceptions of sanctity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474235792
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	09/16/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Rico G. Monge is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego, USA.
Kerry P. C. San Chirico is Assistant Professor of Interfaith and Interreligious Studies, Villanova University, USA.
Rachel Smith is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, Villanova University, USA.
Rico G. Monge is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego, USA

Table of Contents

Figures

Contributors

Foreword: Jeffrey J. Kripal

Acknowledgements

Introduction:
Rico G. Monge, Kerry P.C. San Chirico, and Rachel J. Smith

Part One: Theoretical Considerations

1. Saints, Truth, and the “Use and Abuse” of Hagiography, Rico G. Monge

2. Devotion, Critique, and the Reading of Christian Saints' Lives, Rachel J. Smith

3. Sacred Narrative and Truth: What Does It Mean If It Did Not Happen?, Peter C. Bouteneff
and Patricia Fann Bouteneff

Part Two: Case Studies in Dharmic Traditions

4. Imagining Hagiographies in Chhattisgarh, Ramdas Lamb

5. Turning Tomb to Temple: Hagiography, Sacred Space, and Ritual Activity in a Thirteenth-
Century Hindu Shrine, Mark J. McLaughlin

6. From Legend to Flesh and Bone: The Reenactment of a Tantric Narrative, Joel S. Gruber

Part Three: Case Studies in Abrahamic Traditions

7. The Transmission of Virtue in the Hagiography of Haci Bektas Veli: The Narrative of
Güvenç Abdal, Vernon J. Schubel

8. A Global Intercessor: Triumphalism and Reconciliation in the Services of St. John
Maximovich, Nicholas Denysenko

9. “King-slaves” in South Africa: Shrines, Ritual,&Resistance, Bahar Davary

10. Many Truths, One Story: John of Ephesus's “Lives of the Eastern Saints”, Todd French



Part Four: Case Studies in Comparison

11. Saints from the Margin: Rescuing Tradition through Hagiography in the Lives of
Sylouan the Athonite and Milarepa, Thomas Cattoi

12. Holy Negotiations in the Hindu Heartland: Abundant People and Places among the
Khrist Bhaktas of Banaras, Kerry P. C. San Chirico


Afterword: Comparative Theological Reflections, Francis X. Clooney

Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A rich collection of essays that advances work on the topic of hagiography. Many of the essays indicate new ways of understanding a fascinating subject. The essays are very suggestive of new directions for hagiographical studies, and indicate new connections for the subject...these essays will advance the understanding of hagiography and should encourage other scholars to grasp this subject more seriously in the future.
Reading Religion

Embracing a notion of truth as manifestation - truth in so far as it reveals what could be - this volume attempts to create a space in which religionists, historians, and comparative theologians can engage productively with narratives of saints' lives. In doing so, it offers invaluable assistance to scholars interested in a deeper understanding of the role that saints' lives have played within and across religious traditions.
Ann Taves, Professor of Religious Studies and Graduate Advisor, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA

This is a deeply engaging book that highlights the importance of stories of holy people and the way these stories enliven religious communities. Hagiography and the idea of the saint, which are so central to living religious traditions, have been somewhat neglected in scholarship and this very fine book takes these themes seriously as a focus for discussing questions of truth and how these traditions speak to us today. Everyone interested in comparative theology or comparative religion should read this book.
Gavin Flood FBA, Yap Kim Hao Professor of Comparative Religious Studies, Yale-NUS, Singapore, and Senior Research Fellow, Oxford University, UK

From the Publisher