The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (The Haskell Lectures on History of Religions) (repost)
Peter Brown, "The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (The Haskell Lectures on History of Religions)"
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press | 1982-02-15 | 205 Pages | ISBN: 0226076229 | PDF | 8,4 MB
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press | 1982-02-15 | 205 Pages | ISBN: 0226076229 | PDF | 8,4 MB
Following the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, the cult of the saints was the dominant form of religion in Christian Europe. In this elegantly written work, Peter Brown explores the role of tombs, shrines, relics, and pilgrimages connected with the sacred bodies of the saints. He shows how men and women living in harsh and sometimes barbaric times relied upon the merciful intercession of the holy dead to obtain justice, forgiveness, and to find new ways to accept their fellows. Challenging the common treatment ofthe cult as an outbreak of superstition among the lower classes, Brown demonstrates how this form of religiousity engaged the finest minds of the Church and elicited from members of the educated upper classes some of their most splendid achievements in poetry, literature, and the patronage of the arts.