Date of Award

10-16-2023

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Theology

First Advisor

Josefrayn Sachez-Perry

Abstract

The Grishaverse is the fictional world created by author Leigh Bardugo that encompasses three separate series and ten different books. First published in 2012, the Shadow and Bone trilogy introduces readers to the world of Ravka, its Grisha, and its saints. The story follows Alina as she moves from orphan and soldier to saint and martyr. Sankta Alina becomes a character of its own – a version of Alina communicated to the people of Ravka as a banner to rally behind. She is made into living saint. The questions raised by Leigh Bardugo are echoed in church history. Sainthood is far from stagnant, but instead is a dynamic and potent element of church teaching and ritual practice. Late antiquity and the medieval period are marked by the stories of saints found within hagiographies. My thesis aims to consider sainthood and the tropes found within hagiographic literature during this historical period in tandem with the ways they are engaged with in the literary work of Bardugo. The series serves as a starting point for examining sainthood as a theological and narrative tool that has serious implications both historically and in the contemporary church. Sainthood has been and continues to be a prominent place for church politics – wielded both by those in church authority and by lay members. This can be shown through the contrast between the “characters” of saints provided by church teaching and the historical persons they are constructed out of, a concern shared by Bardugo. The goal of this research is to explore medieval sainthood, including medieval hagiography, and to consider the implications of sainthood in history and what it means for contemporary consumption of saint stories.

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