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

The hagiographic materials from a particular time and place 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 worlds religious traditions, this volume illustrates how various modes of hagiography articulate religious ideas and uniquely represent conceptions of sanctity. Review 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 ReligionEmbracing 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, USAThis 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 About the Author Rico G. Monge is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego, USAKerry 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.