The Gods among Us
A Shared Recipe for Making Saints in Early Jewish and Daoist Hagiographies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3399603 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jianyu Shen (0000-0002-9242-5457, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 222 |
| Publication date | 2024-02-16 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel15020222 |
| OpenAlex | W4391881971 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 24 |
This article examines the earthly journey of the saints in early Jewish and Daoist hagiographies. The major texts for comparative reading are Sefer Shivchei Ha-Ar"i and Shenxian Zhuan, namely, the foundation stones of each hagiographical tradition. Emphasis is laid on the most significant phases in the process of making saints while the candidates dwell in the worldly domain as quasi-divine beings: (1) Mystical Birth, (2) Life in Seclusion, and (3) Divine Encounters. During these stages of transition, the sages were imparted with the esoteric wisdom and the godly features that rendered them extraordinary exemplars of religiosity. My investigation demonstrates that this recipe is shared by both hagiographical traditions, despite the distance in time and space, to construct the image of saints, each expressed with culturally distinct characteristics of their own. I argue that both traditions display a pattern of human-centered sainthood instead of the divine-endorsed type-while the birth myth shows a discernible degree of predestined sagehood, painstaking periods, such as self-isolation and learning with the true masters, are more crucial to the sages' transformation of identity in the realm of Earth, the dynamic incubator that breeds holiness for the most qualified souls
Ancient history · Archaeology · Judaism · Recipe · Traditional medicine · Chinese history and philosophy · Classics · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Medicine
The Jewish-Chinese Nexus
Entangled Confessionalizations?
Sainthood
Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah
Daoism Handbook
Philosophical Enactment and Bodily Cultivation in Early Daoism
Kabbalah and Jewish Modernity
Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos
Messianic Expectations and Spiritualization of Religious Life in the Sixteenth Century
Hitbodedut for a New Age
Dybbuk and Maggid
Debating the Spirit in Early China To Become a God
A Comparative-Informational Approach to the Study of Religion
Making Transcendents
The Cult of the Saints in Lurianic Kabbalah
Mountains and Early Daoism in the Writings of Ge Hong
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |