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"Renard offers for the first time a diachronic, comparative, and insightfully theorized account of hagiographical writing across the premodern Abrahamic traditions. This book not only synthesizes disparate source material; it also analyzes the sociopolitical and literary functions of hagiography in an Islamic context, a much-needed contribution to religious studies."—Nancy Khalek, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University
"This book is a pioneering comparative study of hagiographical traditions in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Distilling fresh analytical perspectives from his comprehensive survey of key primary texts and modern scholarly works, Renard establishes comparative Abrahamic hagiography as a new field—a landmark achievement in religious studies."—Ahmet T. Karamustafa, Professor of History, University of Maryland
"Crossing Confessional Boundaries is an effort to write the history of religion on a grand scale. It is nothing short of a comprehensive 'grammar of the sacred' among the three monotheistic traditions of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam."—Christian C. Sahner, Associate Professor of Islamic History, University of Oxford
List of contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Metaphor, Method, and the Three “Sources” of Hagiographic Narrative
PART ONE: GEOGRAPHIES SHARED-HISTORICAL/ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
1. Geographies Shared I—The Central Middle East
2. Geographies Shared II—Spain and North Africa
3. Geographies Shared III—From Anatolia to the Balkans
PART TWO: HAGIOGRAPHIES COMPARED-LITERARY PERSPECTIVES: FORM, CONTENT, AND FUNCTION
4. Hagiography Constructed: An Owner’s Manual
5. Hagiography Deconstructed: A Reader’s Toolbox
6. Hagiography at Work: A Job Description
PART THREE: DRAMATIS PERSONAE: HISTORY, AUTHORITY, AND COMMUNITY
7. Historical Themes and Institutional Authority
8. Constructions of Personal Authority—Epistemic and Charismatic
9. Exemplars and Their Communities
Conclusion: Comparative Approaches to Religious Exemplarity and Hagiography
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
John Renard is Professor of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. His many books include Seven Doors to Islam: Spirituality and the Religious Life of Muslims, Windows on the House of Islam, Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood, Tales of God’s Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation, and Islamic Theological Themes: A Primary Source Reader.
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"There is much to appreciate in what Renard has produced. . . . Renard’s book will provide a concise overview of a significant corpus of recent scholarship on late antiquity, and the significance therein of holy persons. His juxtaposition of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literatures will provide readers with an awareness of these religious traditions’ interconnections that many may not have otherwise realized."
