Gender and Holiness

Download or read book Gender and Holiness written by Sam Riches and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-07-05 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection brings together two flourishing areas of medieval scholarship: gender and religion. It examines gender-specific religious practices and contends that the pursuit of holiness can destabilise binary gender itself. Though saints may be classified as masculine or feminine, holiness may also cut across gender divisions and demand a break from normally gendered behaviour. This work of interdisciplinary cultural history includes contributions from historians, art historians and literary critics and will be of interest not only to medievalists, but also to students of religion and gender in any period.