Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Introduction 1
4. Chapter 1. Illness, Sanctity, and Asceticism in Antiquity: Approaches and Contexts 15
5. Chapter 2. Asceticism, Health, and Christian Salvation History: Perspectives from the Earliest Monastic Sources 36
6. Chapter 3. Paradise, Health, and the Hagiographical Imagination 59
7. Chapter 4. Choosing Illness: Illness as Ascetic Practice 81
8. Chapter 5. Pestilence and Sainthood: The Great Coptic Life of Our Father Pachomius 109
9. Chapter 6. Illness and Spiritual Direction in Late Ancient Gaza: The Correspondence of Barsanuphius and John with the Sick Monk Andrew 138
10. Conclusion 167
11. Abbreviations 173
12. Notes 175
13. Works Cited 213
14. Index 231
15. Acknowledgments 237