Books by Amy Hollywood

Acute Melancholia and Other Essays deploys spirited and progressive approaches to the study of Christian mysticism and the philosophy of religion. Ideal for novices and experienced scholars alike, the volume makes a forceful case for thinking about religion as both belief and practice, in which traditions marked by change are passed down through generations, laying the groundwork for their own critique. Through a provocative integration of medieval sources and texts by Jacques Derrida, Judith Butler, Talal Asad, and Dipesh Chakrabarty, this book redefines what it means to engage critically with history and those embedded within it.

This text investigates the attraction to excessive forms of mysticism among 20th-century French intellectuals, demonstrates the work the figure of the mystic does for these thinkers, and asks why resolutely secular intellectuals are drawn to affective, bodily, and denigrated forms of mysticism.