Document Type

Article

Date

2010

Keywords

Hagiography, theology, early Christianity

Disciplines

Christianity | Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Description/Abstract

Shame and sanctity are intimately related in ancient "lives" of Jewish sages and Christian ascetics. Infinitely other, saints (from Eliezer to Eulalia) are also infinitely seductive in the audacity of their willful abjection. Drawing desire beyond law, hagiography evokes "not ethics alone," but "le saint, la sainteté du saint" (Levinas).

Additional Information

Copyright © The Johns Hopkins University Press. This article first appeared in L’Esprit Créateur, Volume 50, Issue 1, 2010, pp. 6-20.

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