This text examines topics such as the characteristic traits/diverse functions of holy men; the fashioning of saints out of a minority of holy men and other individuals; the literary processes involved in the construction of hagiographical texts; and the role of hagiography in the creation of cults.

This book of essays explores the characteristic traits and diverse functions of holy men and the fashioning of saints out of a small minority of holy men and other individuals of high social status with more dubious spiritual credentials. These themes are looked at across a wide range of social and cultural milieux. Peter Brown has transformed historians' ways of looking at early Christian saints and his work forms a constant point of reference throughout the book.

The essays in this impressive collection revisit, or rediscover, the holy man, over a very wide geographical and chronological range ... who wants such stories told, and what are saints' lives for? This volume has greatly extended the range of answers.