What do you think?
Rate this book
The Saints: A Short History
The saints form a huge part of our world's history, on both a religious and secular level. Their shrines have attracted millions of pilgrims throughout the centuries, and their relics continue to be venerated today. In North America, even atheists and non-Christians know to bury a statue of St. Joseph in their yards for a quick sale of their property. On February 14th, the love-struck and lonely-hearted of the world declare their crushes with a card or gifts to the object of their affections, signing in the name of St. Valentine. But how did people become saints? What role does sainthood continue to play in our institutional beliefs and traditions? And how does their significance in the Christian ideology translate into other cultures and belief systems?
The Saints: A Short History explores the treatment of saints in literature and art and the way they have been used in politics, analyzing them as examples of idealized male and female heroism. Simon Yarrow considers the similarities between Christian Saints and holy figures in other religious cultures, including Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, and asks whether and how saints continue to be a powerful presence in the modern word.
In nine succinct chapters, Simon Yarrow introduces the origins of sainthood and sanctity and examines the part the saints have played in our society and culture, from the ancient world to the modern day.
The Saints: A Short History explores the treatment of saints in literature and art and the way they have been used in politics, analyzing them as examples of idealized male and female heroism. Simon Yarrow considers the similarities between Christian Saints and holy figures in other religious cultures, including Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, and asks whether and how saints continue to be a powerful presence in the modern word.
In nine succinct chapters, Simon Yarrow introduces the origins of sainthood and sanctity and examines the part the saints have played in our society and culture, from the ancient world to the modern day.
- GenresReligion
192 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2016
About the author
Simon Yarrow
6 books1 followerDr Simon Yarrow BA, MA, D.Phil. Oxon
Dr Yarrow is a Senior Lecturer in Medieval History in the School of History and Cultures at the University of Birmingham, England.
Simon read for his BA and MA in History at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. He then moved to Oxford and read for a D.Phil. on saints’ cults in twelfth century England (1995-1998). In 1999 he taught medieval history at St Mary’s University College, Strawberry Hill, before teaching at Birkbeck College, University of London, for two years (2000-2002). In 2000 Simon was awarded the Past and Present Research Fellowship. He spent two rewarding years at Liverpool University (2002-2004), in an AHRC post-doctoral research fellowship, working with a team of young scholars on Anglo-Norman historiography, before taking his current post at Birmingham in the autumn of 2004.
Dr Yarrow is a Senior Lecturer in Medieval History in the School of History and Cultures at the University of Birmingham, England.
Simon read for his BA and MA in History at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. He then moved to Oxford and read for a D.Phil. on saints’ cults in twelfth century England (1995-1998). In 1999 he taught medieval history at St Mary’s University College, Strawberry Hill, before teaching at Birkbeck College, University of London, for two years (2000-2002). In 2000 Simon was awarded the Past and Present Research Fellowship. He spent two rewarding years at Liverpool University (2002-2004), in an AHRC post-doctoral research fellowship, working with a team of young scholars on Anglo-Norman historiography, before taking his current post at Birmingham in the autumn of 2004.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 29, 2016
What a masterful and elegant piece of scholarly writing. The Saints is a clear enough title; A short history again makes it plain that this is an overview rather than an in depth analysis.
However, hardly a word is wasted and the book covers so much information and historical detail that I believe this could become a classic where anyone starts before going off on their specific quest for more detail on a saint, a movement within the church or a period of history that piques one's interest.
A knew a little of early church history and so I was very interest on how the tone reflected on this period of time. What strikes me about the book is that it covers all aspects of what makes a saint and compares their role in the life of the church and its mission with secular society and the heroes life in general creates. Where as saints are venerated in their lives often the famous personalities as often built up only to be brought down in scandal and kiss and tell accounts. However the cult of both types of figures seems at time a human need.
I think this book with its comprehensive reading index could propel any reader to further their interest to the correct place; there are also a number of books that can be read on actual saints and their associations with craft, trade or peoples. For me this history was neither too little nor too detailed to maintain my interest and introduce to a non-Catholic like me what sainthood means and why canonisations have perhaps now become more prominant.
Since there appears to be no bias and the book covers its purpose by fulfilling the title so well it is a piece of writing that will engage one and educate at the same time.
For now I am done with this topic for a while but would love to learn more about St George.
However, hardly a word is wasted and the book covers so much information and historical detail that I believe this could become a classic where anyone starts before going off on their specific quest for more detail on a saint, a movement within the church or a period of history that piques one's interest.
A knew a little of early church history and so I was very interest on how the tone reflected on this period of time. What strikes me about the book is that it covers all aspects of what makes a saint and compares their role in the life of the church and its mission with secular society and the heroes life in general creates. Where as saints are venerated in their lives often the famous personalities as often built up only to be brought down in scandal and kiss and tell accounts. However the cult of both types of figures seems at time a human need.
I think this book with its comprehensive reading index could propel any reader to further their interest to the correct place; there are also a number of books that can be read on actual saints and their associations with craft, trade or peoples. For me this history was neither too little nor too detailed to maintain my interest and introduce to a non-Catholic like me what sainthood means and why canonisations have perhaps now become more prominant.
Since there appears to be no bias and the book covers its purpose by fulfilling the title so well it is a piece of writing that will engage one and educate at the same time.
For now I am done with this topic for a while but would love to learn more about St George.
Read
October 10, 2016Doing pretty much what it says on the tin, this offers an introduction to the concept of sainthood in christianity, its history, variations between different sects and so forth. I had hoped for something a little closer to John Julius Norwich's hilarious history of the papacy, but that's hardly Yarrow's fault, and when he does let go he can be amusingly waspish; the fairly devout and scholarly tone elsewhere makes for greater impact when eg Calvin's Treatise on Relics is brusquely dismissed as "a rip-off of Erasmus". And there are all sorts of odd details I'd likely never have learned elsewhere, such as the Ethiopian church's particular interest in anatomically detailed hymns, or Galen's theory regarding menstruation.
(Netgalley ARC)
Correspondences to Jerusalem, because they seem to arise in every book I finish while reading Jerusalem: it's about communicants with the eternal arising from the everyday streets. Which also sounds pretty Springsteen, really.
(Netgalley ARC)
Correspondences to Jerusalem, because they seem to arise in every book I finish while reading Jerusalem: it's about communicants with the eternal arising from the everyday streets. Which also sounds pretty Springsteen, really.
March 2, 2021
The Saints - Simon Yarrow
The first saint in the aptly titles The Saints, is Superman. From there on we go through early Christian history, some pretty wild Medieval histories, all the way through Pope Francis.
The Saints makes for an interesting read if you are interested in the history of Saints or Christianity. Yarrow focuses on a handful of Saints per chapter, grouping them usually over a time period but sometimes over a theme such as Gender. Personally, I prefer more information (though perhaps less detailed) of more individual stories over more specific descriptions of only two or three per group, but that's a personal preference, you may find yourself the opposite kind of reader.
With the recent canonization of Mother Teresa, the question of Sainthood and all the particulars attached to the title of Saint have been scrutinized. It must have been easier to become a Saint in the Middle Ages - less political debate about your "good-ness" and less demand for proof of a miracle. Indeed, as more and more can be proved beyond the shadow of a doubt (through Religion's sometimes nemesis - Science) that a miracle has taken place.
This leads to the inevitable problem - is hair that grows down to your toes to cover your nudity a better story than healing one person's cancer? If you're me, yes. I was raised on a healthy diet of skepticism and agnosticism, and was brought to my fair share of Amazing Randi talks. I need scientific proof that someone's cancer just went away - and I want to know if it could be put down to the power of the placebo (an impossibility to test in cases like this).
Indeed, Sainthood is decidedly political today - but it has always been. Yarrow's investigations, thorough and informative, reveal that while the Medieval Saints may have had the more fantastical stories, they were - just like today - political statements. Saints (in my highly secularized experience) act sort of like mascots that can also do some witchcraft for you - pray to St. Anthony to find lost things, St.Christopher for safe travel, etc...
So check out The Saints for a quick(ish) read about the stories behind the figures, and how politics isn't ever out of the story of Religion - no matter how far away the Saints may seem.
The first saint in the aptly titles The Saints, is Superman. From there on we go through early Christian history, some pretty wild Medieval histories, all the way through Pope Francis.
The Saints makes for an interesting read if you are interested in the history of Saints or Christianity. Yarrow focuses on a handful of Saints per chapter, grouping them usually over a time period but sometimes over a theme such as Gender. Personally, I prefer more information (though perhaps less detailed) of more individual stories over more specific descriptions of only two or three per group, but that's a personal preference, you may find yourself the opposite kind of reader.
With the recent canonization of Mother Teresa, the question of Sainthood and all the particulars attached to the title of Saint have been scrutinized. It must have been easier to become a Saint in the Middle Ages - less political debate about your "good-ness" and less demand for proof of a miracle. Indeed, as more and more can be proved beyond the shadow of a doubt (through Religion's sometimes nemesis - Science) that a miracle has taken place.
This leads to the inevitable problem - is hair that grows down to your toes to cover your nudity a better story than healing one person's cancer? If you're me, yes. I was raised on a healthy diet of skepticism and agnosticism, and was brought to my fair share of Amazing Randi talks. I need scientific proof that someone's cancer just went away - and I want to know if it could be put down to the power of the placebo (an impossibility to test in cases like this).
Indeed, Sainthood is decidedly political today - but it has always been. Yarrow's investigations, thorough and informative, reveal that while the Medieval Saints may have had the more fantastical stories, they were - just like today - political statements. Saints (in my highly secularized experience) act sort of like mascots that can also do some witchcraft for you - pray to St. Anthony to find lost things, St.Christopher for safe travel, etc...
So check out The Saints for a quick(ish) read about the stories behind the figures, and how politics isn't ever out of the story of Religion - no matter how far away the Saints may seem.
December 1, 2016
This is an excellent, very informative, academic text about Christian saints over the last to millennia. Although I am not religious, I have always been fascinated by saints: their lives, how they became acknowledged as saints, their portrayal in art, and visiting (where applicable) the churches and pilgrimage places. This book answered so many of my questions – and also some that I had not thought to ask.
The book does not provide a list of saints and their lives, rather it uses a few specific saints as illustrations of particular themes in general. It looks at sainthood in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic and other Christian traditions, and with the changes brought about by the reformation and by Christian missions to non-Christian cultures.
The book charts the changes in who was considered to be a saint, and how (or if) they were canonised. The book points out that “canonization has often been just as much a political, sociological, and diplomatic matter as a religious concern. Wherever we encounter saints, we shall need to ask by means of whom or what is veneration directed towards the saint?” and that you need to keep this in mind when considering “the creative hitching of sanctity to the immediate emotional, intellectual, and institutional needs of the faithful”.
As an academic text, this is not an easy or quick read – despite its relatively short length. The author has a formidable vocabulary, and sometimes I had to read sentences at least twice before I was confident that I understood. But throughout, the book is fascinating, with so much relevant information packed into each chapter. I (Kindle) underlined so many passages that I wanted to remember, that at times I felt like I was underlining every second paragraph.
Whether you see saints as an important part of Christianity, or as a stimulus for many of the most magnificent art works the world has produced, or an historic part of civilisation, or just as a set of wonderful fantasy tales, you will find this book riveting. It may be a slow read – but it is definitely worth the trouble.
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
The book does not provide a list of saints and their lives, rather it uses a few specific saints as illustrations of particular themes in general. It looks at sainthood in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic and other Christian traditions, and with the changes brought about by the reformation and by Christian missions to non-Christian cultures.
The book charts the changes in who was considered to be a saint, and how (or if) they were canonised. The book points out that “canonization has often been just as much a political, sociological, and diplomatic matter as a religious concern. Wherever we encounter saints, we shall need to ask by means of whom or what is veneration directed towards the saint?” and that you need to keep this in mind when considering “the creative hitching of sanctity to the immediate emotional, intellectual, and institutional needs of the faithful”.
As an academic text, this is not an easy or quick read – despite its relatively short length. The author has a formidable vocabulary, and sometimes I had to read sentences at least twice before I was confident that I understood. But throughout, the book is fascinating, with so much relevant information packed into each chapter. I (Kindle) underlined so many passages that I wanted to remember, that at times I felt like I was underlining every second paragraph.
Whether you see saints as an important part of Christianity, or as a stimulus for many of the most magnificent art works the world has produced, or an historic part of civilisation, or just as a set of wonderful fantasy tales, you will find this book riveting. It may be a slow read – but it is definitely worth the trouble.
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
December 10, 2016
Throughout Christian history individuals have been endowed with sainthood due to miracles that they supposedly performed during their life. Veneration of saints has been a huge part of worship for 2000 years and also big business for the Church. In this book Simon Yarrow looks at the changing views on sainthood through time and geography.
Although this book doesn't go into exhaustive details about the life and actions of many individuals, it offers an interesting perspective on the ideas of 'mortal' people being able to perform miracles because of their faith and the implications of this. The historical perspective is well-handled but I particularly liked the section that looked at the adoption of Christianity across the globe and the development of 'saints' to fit different societies. This is a short but powerful book.
Although this book doesn't go into exhaustive details about the life and actions of many individuals, it offers an interesting perspective on the ideas of 'mortal' people being able to perform miracles because of their faith and the implications of this. The historical perspective is well-handled but I particularly liked the section that looked at the adoption of Christianity across the globe and the development of 'saints' to fit different societies. This is a short but powerful book.
June 29, 2016
This is so much material to cover in under 200 pages and I think Dr. Yarrow does a yeoman's job. It's a good overall history, and I would certainly add it to supplemental material bibliographies for classes. What prevents me from using it as a primary teaching text would be that I wish there were more stories of individual saints. Having so many movements and so many things to grasp on to is helpful for an overall, don't get me wrong, but I would have been helped by some stories to put meat on the bones, as it were.
July 25, 2018
This book is a wonderful smart, accessible introduction to the role of the saints within the Christian religious tradition. The author's special attention to issues of gender in reference to the saints was especially enlightening. The content dealing with hagiography and martyrology is also good. Finally, the book is beautifully designed and illustrated. Recommended for anyone with even a vague interest in this rich and fascinating topic.
February 3, 2017
This is a great introduction to the logic of sainthood in Western Christianity, tracing how the tradition has changed over time, looking at what the saints have meant for the faithful, and even asking questions about what saints have to offer for the future of Christian faith.
Read
March 9, 2018270.0922 Y29 2016
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews