A verb meaning to be out of one's mind, deranged, or acting irrationally. The root suggests being beside (para) one's normal mental state (phren). Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:23 uses it rhetorically: speaking as if beside himself, he catalogs his apostolic sufferings. The participle acknowledges the apparent madness of boasting about hardships—behavior that appears irrational by worldly standards but makes sense in the upside-down economy of the cross.