The Monastic Dimension of Identity Politics : Global Case Studies from the Premodern Period.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Papasidero, Marco.

Contributor:

Accardi, Dean.

Jamroziak, Emilia.

Series:

Spirituality and Monasticism, East and West Series

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (145 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Arc Humanities Press, 2024.

Summary:

This volume comparatively explores how members of "monastic" communities, broadly understood, developed practical strategies for the construction of identity across a range of religious traditions in the greater regions of premodern Europe and Asia. In particular, it seeks to understand how the production, distribution, and reception of hagiographic material (written, visual, and performative) served as a tool for the implementation of "monastic" dynamics of legitimation. This is accomplished by pursuing and developing a two-fold approach. At an empirical level, the volume expands our scholarly understanding of the cross-cultural processes that characterize religious communities' notions of identity. At a meta-level, it furthers a re-evaluation of our taxonomy as it challenges established notions of categories such as "monk/monastic" and "hagiography.".

Contents:

Front Cover

Front matter

Half-title

Series information

Title page

Copyright information

Table of contents

Body

Introduction

The Birth of an Idea

The Essays

Monasticism, Identity, and Hagiography

Bibliography

Chapter 1. Communal and Individual Monastic Identity in Gregory the Great's Dialogues

Gregory the Great, Hagiography, and Monasticism

Two Debates Surrounding Gregory the Great

Gregory's Individual Monastic Identity

From Individual to Communal Identity: The Case of Peter

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Chapter 2. Hagiography and Monastic Legitimacy in the Translation of St Helena's Relics to Hautvillers

The Theft of St Helena

The Authenticity of the Relics

St Helena's Body as Performing Miraculous Healings

The Theft and the Monastery

A Comparison with Medieval Italy: The Case of St John of Spoleto

Conclusion

Chapter 3. The Many Hagiographical Identities of the Chinese Buddhist Nun Zhujin

The Earliest Hagiographical Account: Zhujin's Married Life

Death: Zhujin's Ascension to the Pure Land of Amitābha Buddha

List of Abbreviations for Buddhist Canonical Collections

Chapter 4. Hagiography Beyond the Saints: Redefining Genre and Kashmiri Identity through Sanctifying Narrative

Genre

Who is Among the Holy?

For What is this Praise?

Chapter 5. A Re-membered Community: The Myth of Śaṅkara and the Making of the Smārtas

Monastic Myths

The Ascent of Śiva

Signing On

The Inner Conflict of Tradition

The Veda of Action and Knowledge

Holy Hierarchy

Smārtas Re-membered

What's Good for the Goose.

Ritual Rejected and Rehabilitated

Chapter 6. The Ascetic and the Ecstatic: Examples of Identity Construction in the Rāmānandī Sampradāya

Hagiographies as Sources

On Kṛṣṇadās Payahārī

Kīlhdev and the Tyāgī Branch

Agradās and the Rasik Branch

Different Monastic Communities, Different Monastic Identities

Back matter

Conclusions

Hagiographies Compared

Monastic Identities and Constellations of Diversity

Legitimation, Locality, and Power

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781802702163

1802702164

OCLC:

1468039608