A Brief History of Saints

1. Auflage 2005
ISBN: 978-1-4051-1402-8
Verlag: Wiley

Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Format (B × H): 138 mm x 189 mm, Gewicht: 209 g

A Brief History of Saints follows the rise of the cult of saints in Christianity from its origin in the age of the martyrs down to the present day.
- Refers to both well-known saints, such as Joan of Arc, and lesser-known figures like the 'holy fools' in the Orthodox tradition
- Ranges over subjects as diverse as the history of canonization processes, the Reformation critique of the cult of saints, and the role of saints in other religious traditions
- Discusses the relevance of sainthood in the postmodern era
- Two appendices describe patron saints and the iconography of saints in art.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cunningham, Lawrence S.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations vii

Introduction 1

1 The Saint: Beginnings 5

Beginnings 8

The Martyrs 11

Literature 13

Veneration 16

After Constantine 18

2 The Bureaucratization of Sanctity 28

Liturgical Memory of the Saints 28

The Saintly Legend 31

Regularizing Sainthood 36

A Test Case: Francis of Assisi 39

The Christian East 44

The Many Meanings of the Saints 46

Pilgrimage 49

Venerating Saints: A Theological Clarification 51

3 Reformations: Protestant and Catholic 54

The Age of the Reformers 54

The Catholic Reformation 61

The New Martyrs 68

The Papal Curia and Canonization 72

The Saints and Scholarship 74

4 Towards the Modern World 78

Worlds Divided 78

New Forms of Religious Life 81

Doctors of the Church 87

The Starets 91

The Tractarians and the Saints 96

5 The Twentieth Century 102

Schools of Spirituality 102

A New Saintliness? 107

The New Martyrs 115

John Paul II: Saints and Evangelization 120

Anglican and Lutheran Calendars 123

6 The Saints, World Religions, and the Future 127

Some Terminology 130

Saints as a Theological Resource 136

Saints and the Continuity of Religious Tradition 139

Appendix I: Patron Saints 148

Appendix II: Iconography of the Saints 151

Notes 155

Select Bibliography 162

Index 169

Über Autor(innen)

Lawrence S. Cunningham is John O’Brien Professor of Theology at Notre Dame University. He is the author or editor of many books, including The Sacred Quest: An Invitation to the Study of Religion (2001), Christian Spirituality (1996), Ecumenism (1990), and The Catholic Faith: An Introduction (1987). His previous works on sainthood include biographies of Thomas Merton and Saint Francis of Assisi. He has won three Catholic Press Association awards for his religious writing and numerous teaching awards.