His first book,
Prophets in Their Own Country (1992) is based on his thesis. It examines the interaction between would-be
saints and their audiences. He argues that sainthood as a social fact is found in the dynamic dialogue between a claimant and his or her interlocutors and is not a personal quality that can be understood outside what he calls "the saintly interaction". In a later book,
Flesh Made Word (2008), he moved from studying live interactions to the role of stories in creating a saintly repertoire. He argued that saints' stories are often used to "domesticate" living saints, by offering an impossibly successful model of sainthood. No saint can live up to the expectations created by hagiography, hence the saint is driven to collaborate with hagiographical creators who can strengthen his or her reputation by making him fit the inflated model. This creates a "debt" that can be used by the producers of stories in their interactions with saintly aspirants. The book also looks at the phenomenon of the tendency of stories to stretch the limits of "orthodox" sainthood. Other major works include
A Guide for the Non Believer (2019) and
A Short Guide to the Western Middle Ages (2020). Kleinberg is a public intellectual who often expresses himself on public issues. For many years he has written a weekly column in "
Yedioth Ahronoth", a national newspaper in Israel, and also in
haaretz. He also publishes a blog called "Shock hametziut" (Reality Shock). == Publications ==