Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium / Youval Rotman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rotman, Youval, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychology and religion--Byzantine Empire.

Psychology and religion.

Mental illness--Religious aspects--Byzantine Empire.

Mental illness.

Mental illness--Social aspects--Byzantine Empire.

Religion and sociology--Byzantine Empire.

Religion and sociology.

Christian saints--Byzantine Empire.

Christian saints.

Holy fools--Byzantine Empire.

Holy fools.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (267 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

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. Youval Rotman examines how the figure of the mad saint or mystic was used as a means of individual and collective transformation prior to the rise is Islam.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Prologue: Insanity and Religion

Part I. Sanctified Insanity: Between History and Psychology

1. The Paradox That Inhabits Ambiguity

2. Meanings of Insanity

Part II. Abnormality and Social Change: Early Christianity versus Rabbinic Judaism

3. Abnormality and Social Change: Insanity and Martyrdom

4. Socializing Nature: The Ascetic Totem

Epilogue: Psychology, Religion, and Social Change

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed Feb. 24, 2017)

ISBN:

9780674973114

0674973119

9780674974432

0674974433

OCLC:

960752369