A collection of thirteen essays on a variety of topics relating to the intersections of the sacred and the profane in Christianity's first millennium, Society and the Holy is written in Brown's usual elegant prose. Some of his conclusions on relics and holy men he would later revise in works such as The Cult of Saints, and one or two of the essays are rather slight, but there is still much here to recommend. Highlights include the essays on Gibbon and Pirenne, in which Brown examines their methodology, scholarship, and impact on later medieval studies. ( )