Zusammenfassung / Abstract
“The holy man as a literary and historical figure in late antiquity. Methodological challenges and perspectives for redefining the role of Christian ascetics in the late antique East” – Ever since Peter Brown brought the holy man into the focus of academic attention in 1971, his ‘place’ in the society of the Eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity has been invoked time and again. Brown’s account has met with widespread approval as well as with criticism, recently articulated very clearly by Ramsay MacMullen. Yet an extensive account remains a desideratum, even if the research on partial aspects and in the treatment of individual personalities provides many essential cornerstones for it. This paper provides prolegomena to such a study, formulating a dual-approach solution for overcoming source-related and other methodological challenges in order to explore the role and function of the holy man in society in a comprehensive perspective.