Asceticism and Its Critics: Historical Accounts and Comparative Perspectives

Scholars of religion have always been fascinated by asceticism. Some have even regarded this radical way of life— the withdrawal from the world, combined with practices that seriously affect basic bodily needs, up to extreme forms of self-mortification —as the ultimate form of a true religious quest. This view is rooted in hagiographic descriptions of prominent ascetics and in other literary accounts that praise the ascetic life-style. Scholars have often overlooked, however, that in the hist…