Arguably the single most important element in Abrahamic cross-confessional relations has been an ongoing mutual interest in perennial spiritual and ethical exemplars of one another’s communities. Ranging from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages, Crossing Confessional Boundaries explores the complex roles played by saints, sages, and Friends of God in the communal and intercommunal lives of Christians, Muslims, and Jews across the Mediterranean world, from Spain and North Africa to the Middle East to the Balkans. By examining these stories in their broad institutional, social, and cultural contexts, Crossing Confessional Boundaries reveals unique theological insights into the interlocking histories of the Abrahamic faiths.
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.
"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
360 pp.6 x 9
9780520287914$95.00|£80.00Hardcover
Jan 2020