Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS ix
3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
4. Introduction 1
5. The Poetics and Politics of Ritualized Weeping in Early and Medieval Japan 25
6. Productive Tears: Weeping Speech, Water, and the Underworld in the Mexica Tradition 52
7. “Why Do Your Eyes Not Run Like a River?” Ritual Tears in Ancient and Modern Greek Funerary Traditions 67
8. “Sealing the Book with Tears”: Divine Weeping on Mount Nebo and in the Warsaw Ghetto 83
9. The Gopīs’ Tears 94
10. Hsüan-tsang’s Encounter with the Buddha: A Cloud of Philosophy in a Drop of Tears 112
11. Weeping in Classical Sufism 132
12. “No Power of Speech Remains”: Tears and Transformation in South Asian Majlis Poetry 145
13. Ẹkuń Ìyàwó: Bridal Tears in Marriage Rites of Passage among the Ǫ̀yǫ́-Yorùbá of Nigeria 165
14. A Love for All Seasons: Weeping in Jewish Sources 178
15. “Pray with Tears and Your Request Will Find a Hearing”: On the Iconology of the Magdalene’s Tears 201
16. Tears and Screaming: Weeping in the Spirituality of Margery Kempe 229
17. “An Obscure Matter”: The Mystery of Tears in Orthodox Spirituality 242
18. “Howl, Weep and Moan, and Bring It Back to God”: Holy Tears in Eastern Christianity 255
19. “Send Thou Me”: God’s Weeping and the Sanctification of Ground Zero 274
20. Epilogue: Tikkun ha-olam 301
21. Index 303
22. Contributors 313