Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? – Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation - Softcover

Bartlett, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691169683 ISBN 13: 9780691169682

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2015

Synopsis

From its earliest centuries, one of the most notable features of Christianity has been the veneration of the saints--the holy dead. This ambitious history tells the fascinating story of the cult of the saints from its origins in the second-century days of the Christian martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. Robert Bartlett examines all of the most important aspects of the saints--including miracles, relics, pilgrimages, shrines, and the saints' role in the calendar, literature, and art. The book explores the central role played by the bodies and body parts of saints, and the special treatment these relics received. From the routes, dangers, and rewards of pilgrimage, to the saints' impact on everyday life, Bartlett's account is an unmatched examination of an important and intriguing part of the religious life of the past--as well as the present.

About this title

Review:

"[A]n indispensible point of departure for anyone interested in the cult of the saints in the Middle Ages. The book is based on an awe-inspiring familiarity with the hagiographical sources of both Eastern and Western churches, and is packed with intelligent, measured, and well-informed discussions of everything from the hierarchy of precedence of feasts in the old Roman calendar to the managerial problems of running a shrine. Students, scholars, and the general reader will all find it invaluable."---Eamon Duffy, New York Review of Books

"Robert Bartlett's monumental study provides a comprehensive account of the development of the cult of the saints from the cult of martyrs (those who had died as witnesses for their faith during the Roman persecutions) and illustrates the centrality of saintly devotion in the lives and beliefs of Christians across Europe over the whole medieval period. . . . Bartlett has a gift for succinct summary, both of complex (and confusing) narratives and for explaining theological controversy; his obvious abilities as a teacher appear throughout and his book will manifestly appeal to students. . . . Robert Bartlett's achievement lies in his capacity to draw out the distinctive, and often amusing, attributes of different saints while showing how the cult of saints operated in medieval Europe."---Sarah Foot, Times Literary Supplement

"[M]assive, erudite compendium of saint lore . . . For a book so deeply grounded in original research . . . The volume is remarkably accessible."---Barbara Newman, London Review of Books

"It is a treat . . . to see such erudition amassed this way; it is hard to imagine any aspect of the cult of the saints that Bartlett has left out in this extraordinarily comprehensive text. Yet there is enormous entertainment here as well. . . . [W]ho, and when and where--this enormous and humane reference work gives all that, along with stories that are appalling and ghoulish and mysterious and funny."---Rob Hardy, The (Columbus, OH) Dispatch

"[T]here is much to enjoy in the array of human behaviour, sacred and by our standards profane or just downright mad, chronicled in Bartlett's excellent study."---Diarmaid MacCulloch, Guardian

"[T]his magisterial work of scholarship."---Richard Holloway, Independent

"Devotion to the saints is manifestly still alive and well in the Catholic Church, and Bartlett's impressive compendium will serve to explain the cult's historical origins and evolution."---John Cornwell, Financial Times

"Rich in original research, full of illuminating case studies, Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? is a major achievement from a distinguished medieval historian and a gold mine for those interested in religious history."---Helen Fulton, Times Higher Education

"Bartlett convincingly explains how the 12th-century papacy sought to control a potentially anarchic process by demanding strict examination of cases, of which only about half were successful. . . . With great thoroughness, Bartlett examines issues such as types of saint, relics, miracles, hagiography and doubt, more as an observer than as judge. . . . Some of Bartlett's most valuable insights relate to the diversity of ways in which saints were revered and what they reveal about visions of the social order."---Constant Mews, Sydney Morning Herald

"This is a remarkable book, which is thankfully both wonderfully informative and wonderfully readable. . . . His book is just the kind of great scholarly synthesis that was once the norm, but which may well become rarer than now in the future. This is a long and very detailed book, but the patience of the reader in encompassing nearly 800 closely printed pages will be well rewarded."---Peter Costello, Irish Catholic

From the Back Cover:

"The whole of medieval life is contained in Robert Bartlett's history of the cult of saints. Wisely combining a chronological account and thematic explorations, Bartlett surveys the whole of Europe and its vastly diverse people. This is a remarkable feat that takes the medieval passion for saints and their relics not as a given, but as an intellectual challenge. Bartlett shows that as Christian Europe lost the ancient gods of nature it gained a landscape marked by those great things that only very special dead people could do."--Miri Rubin, Queen Mary University of London

"This massive and encyclopedic survey is a remarkable guide to the complexities of medieval sanctity. It is so hard for modern readers to understand the role of medieval saints from within; this book makes it possible."--Chris Wickham, University of Oxford

"This is a great book, a bold work by an outstanding scholar and writer. Tackling the vast subject of medieval sainthood, Robert Bartlett has managed to produce a distinctly original account that is also an enjoyable and entertaining read, seasoned with humor. Bartlett has a keen eye for significant, and often paradoxical, quotations, situations, and personalities. I know of no other book that has attempted to grasp the entire subject of medieval sainthood. Its publication is a major event."--Gábor Klaniczay, Central European University

"Comprehensive, up-to-date, and highly readable, this ambitious survey of medieval sainthood is, in its scale and range, unlike any other book on the subject. Robert Bartlett successfully balances an astute analysis of the underlying and universal dynamics driving the medieval conception of, and response to, sanctity, with an imaginative depiction of chronological and regional variation and particularity. And he has a remarkable eye for telling and offbeat details. This is major book."--Alan Thacker, University of London

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0691169683
• ISBN 13: 9780691169682
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 816