Exemplary Life: Modelling Sainthood in Christian Syria (Anthropological Horizons)

Bandak, Andreas

ISBN 10: 1487542933 / ISBN 13: 9781487542931

Published by University of Toronto Press, 2022

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 26396141036

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Exemplary Life: Modelling Sainthood in Christian Syria (Anthropological Horizons)
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1487542933
• ISBN 13: 9781487542931
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Based on over five years of ethnographic fieldwork in Syria, Exemplary Life focuses on the life of a Damascus woman, Myrna Nazzour, who serves as an aspirational figure in her community. Myrna is regarded by her followers as an exemplary figure, a living saint, and the messages, apparitions, stigmata, and oil that have marked Myrna since 1982 have corroborated her status as chosen by God.

Exemplary Life probes the power of examples, the modelling of sainthood around Myrna’s figure, and the broader context for Syrian Christians in the changing landscape of the Middle East. The book highlights the social use of examples such as the ones inhabited by Myrna’s devout followers and how they reveal the broader structures of illustration, evidence, and persuasion in social and cultural settings. Andreas Bandak argues that the role of the example should incite us to investigate which trains of thought set local worlds in motion. In doing so, Exemplary Life presents a novel frame for examining how religion comes to matter to people and adds a critical dimension to current anthropological engagements with ethics and morality.

About the Author

Andreas Bandak is an associate professor at the Department for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen.