7. Writing the saints

Abstract

Hagiography, or ‘writings about the holy’, is the family of literature dedicated to saints. ‘Writing the saints’ considers the origins, form, and functions of hagiography, explaining that its roots were in classical forms of secular biography and in the Gospels. It borrowed from the former all the persuasive techniques and forms used to describe the lives of extraordinary men and women, and from the latter it drew its central purpose and dramatic theme. Aside from its invaluable testimony to religious practice, ecclesiastical, political, and social history, hagiography’s longevity and variety has made it a vast storehouse of human understandings and expressions of spirituality, and of the relationship between God, the saints, and humanity.