These essays discuss various related themes: the traits of holy men; creating saints out of a minority of holy men; and the role of hagiography in the diffusion of cults. Peter Brown's work, especially the article "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity" forms a point of reference.
This volume has greatly extended the range of answers ... The essays in this impressive collection revisit, or rediscover, the holy man, over a very wide geographical and chronological range.