Historians of religion face complex interpretive issues when examining religious texts, practices, and experiences. Faithful Narratives presents the work of twelve eminent scholars whose research has exemplified compelling strategies for negotiating the difficulties inherent in this increasingly important area of historical inquiry. The chapters range chronologically from Late Antiquity to modern America and thematically from the spirituality of near eastern monks to women's agency in religion, considering familiar religious communities alongside those on the margins and bringing a range of spiritual and religious practices into historical focus.

Introduction: The Challenge of Religion in HistoryANDREA STERK AND NINA CAPUTOPart One: Late Antique and Medieval Religious Debates and Their Modern Implications1. Pagan Challenge, Christian Response: Emperor Julian and Gregory of Nazianzus as Paradigms of Interreligious DiscourseSUSANNA ELM2. Between Syria and Egypt: Alms, Work, and the "Holy Poor"PETER BROWN3. Medieval Monks on Labor and LeisureJOHN VAN ENGEN4. Sibling Rivalries, Scriptural Communities: What Medieval History Can and CannotTeach Us about Relations between Judaism, Christianity, and IslamDAVID NIRENBERGPart Two: Early Modern Perspectives on Spirituality, Culture, and Religious Boundaries5. The People and the Book: Print and the Transformation of Jewish Culture in Early Modern EuropeDAVID B. RUDERMAN6. The Jewish Book in Christian Europe: Material Texts and Religious EncountersANTHONY GRAFTON7. Mission and Narrative in the Early Modern Spanish World: Diego de Ocaña's Desert in PassingKENNETH MILLS8. Incombustible Weber: How the Protestant Reformation Really Disenchanted the WorldCARLOS EIREPart Three: From the Premodern to the Modern World: Sacred Texts, Individual Agency, and Religious Identity9. Religion and Gender in Enlightenment England: The Problem of AgencyPHYLLIS MACK10. Constructions of Jewish Identity through Reflections on IslamSUSANNAH HESCHEL11. Bible, Translation, and Culture: From the KJV to the Christian Resurgence in AfricaLAMIN SANNEH12. Reflections on the Bible and American Public LifeMARK A. NOLLNotes