| book details |

Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium: The Ambiguity of Religious Experience

By (author) Youval Rotman

| on special |

normal price: R 1,499.95

Price: R 1,424.95

| add to trolley |

| book description |

In the Roman and Byzantine Near East, the holy fool emerged in Christianity as a way of describing individuals whose apparent madness allowed them to achieve a higher level of spirituality. Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium examines how the figure of the mad saint or mystic was used as a means of individual and collective transformation in the period between the birth of Christianity and the rise of Islam. It presents a novel interpretation in revealing the central role that psychology plays in social and historical development. Early Christians looked to figures who embodied extremes of behaviorâ€”like the holy fool, the ascetic, the martyrâ€”to redefine their social, cultural, and mental settings by reading new values in abnormal behavior. Comparing such forms of extreme behavior in early Christian, pagan, and Jewish societies, and drawing on theories of relational psychoanalysis, anthropology, and sociology of religion, Youval Rotman explains how the sanctification of figures of extreme behavior makes their abnormality socially and psychologically functional. The sanctification of abnormal mad behavior created a sphere of ambiguity in the ambit of religious experience for early Christians, which brought about a deep psychological shift, necessary for the transition from paganism to Christianity. A developing society leaves porous the border between what is normal and abnormal, between sanity and insanity, in order to use this ambiguity as a means of change. Rotman emphasizes the role of religion in maintaining this ambiguity to effect a social and psychological transformation.

| product details |

| other options |

Normally shipped | Available from overseas. Usually dispatched in 14 days
Readership Age |

Normal Price | R 2,036.95
Price | R 1,935.95 | on special |

| add to trolley |

| back |

| your trolley |

To view the items in your trolley please sign in.

| sign in |

| specials |

Free Your Mind: The new world of manipulation and how to resist it

Laura Dodsworth
Paperback / softback
384 pages
was: R 300.95
now: R 270.95
Available from overseas. Dispatched in aprox 4-8 weeks as local supplier is out of stock

The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller Learn how to recognise and resist the daily attempts to control and manipulate your mind.

| more |

| add to trolley |

The Thing at 52

Mr. Ross Montgomery
Hardback
40 pages
was: R 363.95
now: R 345.95
Usually dispatched in 3 to 4 weeks as supplier is out of stock

The Thing at 52 is aÂ beautiful picture book about friendship, loneliness and learning how to say goodbye.

| more |

| add to trolley |

The Silent Patient: The record-breaking, multimillion copy Sunday Times bestselling thriller and TikTok sensation

Alex Michaelides
Paperback / softback
352 pages
was: R 280.95
now: R 252.95
Available from overseas. Dispatched in aprox 4-8 weeks as local supplier is out of stock

With film rights snapped up by an Oscar winning Hollywood production company, rights sold in a world record 43 territories, and rave blurbs from David Baldacci, Lee Child and A.

| more |

| add to trolley |