"It's easy to be a saint," a friend of Thomas Merton once told him, "you only have to want to be one"; yet saints are rare and, to believers, precious human beings. At the same time, saints and sainthood are remarkably widespread across time and space in human history: Christian saints, Muslim walis, Buddhist arahants, Chinese sages, wonder-working Hasidic rebbes, and others are among those strange and wonderful creatures who inhabit the borderlands between the sacred and profane, the divine and the human. Exemplars, intercessors, friends of God, miracle-workers-and sometimes charlatans and frauds-the varied roles of saints are each unique to their own times, cultures, and traditions, yet we intuitively feel they have something in common. In this tutorial we will explore the similarities and differences among these special men and women and the place they occupy in the human imagination and experience. Format: tutorial. Requirements: students are required to write five 6- to 8-page papers during the semester. No prerequisites. Preference given to Anthropology and Sociology majors.