Though medieval "saints' lives" are among the oldest literary texts of Western vernacular culture, they are routinely patronized as "pious fiction" by modern historiography. This book demonstrates that to characterize the genre as fiction is to misunderstand the intentions of medieval authors, who were neither credulous fools nor men blinded by piety. Concentrating on English texts, Heffernan reconstructs the medieval perspective and considers sacred biography in relation to the community for which it was written; identifies the genre's rhetorical practices and purposes; and demonstrates the...

The Mediterranean and Western-European sphere in the Ancient, Medieval and Early-Modern Periods was a world of complex and deeply rooted religious Pluralism - Jews, various sects of Christians, Muslims, and pagans all lived side by side and interacted regularly. The essays in this volume explore what happened when Christians read the Bible faced with the challenges posed by this religious pluralism. Topics covered include early Christianity's use of the Bible under persecution, Arab-Christian Biblical study within the Islamic World, Jewish-Christian scholarly interaction in the...

Winner of the Modern Language Association Prize for a Scholarly Edition

One of the most widely read and studied texts composed in Late Antiquity is the prison diary of Vibia Perpetua, a young woman of the elite classes who was martyred in March of the year 202 or 203 C.E. in Carthage, as part of a civic celebration honoring Caesar Geta. She was well-married and had recently become the mother of a baby son, but despite her advantages, she refused to recant her faith when she was arrested with other recent converts to Christianity. Imprisoned with her was her pregnant slave...