Saints: A Very Short Introduction

The idea of saints and sainthood are familiar to all, irrelevant of religious faith. In this Very Short Introduction, Simon Yarrow looks at the origins, ideas, and definitions of sainthood, sanctity, and saints in the early Church, tracing their development in history and explaining the social roles saints played in the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds.

Along the way, Yarrow considers the treatment of saints as objects of literary and artistic expression and interpretation, and as examp...