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Book Cover
E-book
Author Rotman, Youval, author

Title Insanity and sanctity in Byzantium : the ambiguity of religious experience / Youval Rotman
Published Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2016

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Description 1 online resource (256 pages)
Contents Prologue. Insanity and religion -- Part I. Sanctified insanity: between history and psychology -- The paradox that inhabits ambiguity -- Meanings of insanity -- Part II. Abnormality and social change: early Christianity vs. rabbinic Judaism -- Abnormality and social change: insanity and martyrdom -- Socializing nature: the ascetic totem -- Epilogue. Psychology, religion, and social change
Summary "Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium aims to understand how the use of psychological abnormality functions in deep societal transformations, producing a major shift in the religious, cultural, mental, and social aspects. The book examines a particular set of religious phenomena, in a broadly defined period and area - the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East between the birth of Christianity and that of Islam - and seeks to reach conclusions on the nature and function of abnormal behavior sanctified by society. Taking as a starting point a particular type of saint of Orthodox Christianity, the holy fool, the person who feigns madness, and investigating other types of saints who portray abnormal behavior, such as the martyr and the ascetic, the book reveals the ambiguous character of the boundary between sanity and insanity. It explains the significance of this ambiguity to the religious experience as a motor of social movement, and sets it at the core of the socio-religious transformation that changed the Antique civilization into a world of medieval societies."-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-250) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Psychology and religion -- Byzantine Empire
Mental illness -- Religious aspects -- Byzantine Empire
Mental illness -- Social aspects -- Byzantine Empire
Religion and sociology -- Byzantine Empire
Christian saints -- Byzantine Empire
Holy fools -- Byzantine Empire
BODY, MIND & SPIRIT -- Inspiration & Personal Growth.
BODY, MIND & SPIRIT -- Spirituality -- General.
RELIGION -- Christianity -- General.
RELIGION -- Devotional.
RELIGION -- Spirituality.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
Christian saints
Holy fools
Mental illness -- Religious aspects
Mental illness -- Social aspects
Psychology and religion
Religion and sociology
Byzantine Empire
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780674974432
0674974433