From the birth of Abrahamic religions to the present day, the figure of the charismatic holy man has stood at the center of cultural, social, and political imagination. In this block course we will explore how such figures, who are often associated with miracles, ascetic practices, and claims of divine authority, were represented in Jewish, Christian, and later Islamic traditions. While our focus is both historical and literary, we will pay particular attention to the ways stories about holy men function simultaneously as religious texts, as literature, and as folklore moving across cultural boundaries.
Alongside questions of theology and religious history, the course will introduce students to methods from literary studies and folklore research. We will practice close reading, discourse analysis, and comparative approaches, examining how motifs, symbols, and narrative structures give meaning to these traditions. By the end of the course, students will have gained not only a deeper understanding of the holy man archetype, but also critical skills for analyzing religious traditions as part of wider literary and cultural systems.