The Early Martyr Narratives

Author : Eric Rebillard
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 0812252608
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Early Martyr Narratives written by Eric Rebillard and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2020-11-27 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Eusebius of Caesarea, who first compiled a collection of martyr narratives around 300, to Thierry Ruinart, whose Acta primorum martyrum sincera et selecta was published in 1689, the selection and study of early hagiographic narratives has been founded on an assumption that there existed documents written at the time of martyrdom, or very close to it. As a result, a search for authenticity has been and continues to be central, even in the context of today's secular scholarship. But, as Éric Rebillard contends, the alternative approach, to set aside entirely the question of the historical reliability of martyr narratives, is not satisfactory either. Instead, he argues that martyr narratives should be consider as fluid "living texts," written anonymously and received by audiences not as precise historical reports but as versions of the story. In other words, the form these texts took, between fact and fiction, made it possible for audiences to readily accept the historicity of the martyr while at the same time not expect to hear or read a truthful account. In The Early Martyr Narratives, Rebillard considers only accounts of Christian martyrs supposed to have been executed before 260, and only those whose existence is attested in sources that can be dated to before 300. The resulting small corpus contains no texts in the form of legal protocols, traditionally viewed as the earliest, most official and authentic records, nor does it include any that can be dated to a period during which persecution of Christians is known to have taken place. Rather than deduce from this that they are forgeries written for the sake of polemic or apologetic, Rebillard demonstrates how the literariness of the narratives creates a fictional complicity that challenges and complicates any claims of these narratives to be truthful.

Author : Bryan M. Litfin
Publisher : Baker Academic
ISBN 13 : 1441220070
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Early Christian Martyr Stories written by Bryan M. Litfin and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal narratives are powerful instruments for teaching, both for conveying information and for forming character. The martyrdom accounts preserved in the literature of early Christianity are especially intense and dramatic. However, these narratives are not readily available and are often written in intimidating prose, making them largely inaccessible for the average reader. This introductory text brings together key early Christian martyrdom stories in a single volume, offering new, easy-to-read translations and expert commentary. An introduction and explanatory notes accompany each translation. The book not only provides a vivid window into the world of early Christianity but also offers spiritual encouragement and inspiration for Christian life today.

Author : Eric Rebillard
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 0812252608
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Early Martyr Narratives written by Eric Rebillard and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2020-11-27 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Eusebius of Caesarea, who first compiled a collection of martyr narratives around 300, to Thierry Ruinart, whose Acta primorum martyrum sincera et selecta was published in 1689, the selection and study of early hagiographic narratives has been founded on an assumption that there existed documents written at the time of martyrdom, or very close to it. As a result, a search for authenticity has been and continues to be central, even in the context of today's secular scholarship. But, as Éric Rebillard contends, the alternative approach, to set aside entirely the question of the historical reliability of martyr narratives, is not satisfactory either. Instead, he argues that martyr narratives should be consider as fluid "living texts," written anonymously and received by audiences not as precise historical reports but as versions of the story. In other words, the form these texts took, between fact and fiction, made it possible for audiences to readily accept the historicity of the martyr while at the same time not expect to hear or read a truthful account. In The Early Martyr Narratives, Rebillard considers only accounts of Christian martyrs supposed to have been executed before 260, and only those whose existence is attested in sources that can be dated to before 300. The resulting small corpus contains no texts in the form of legal protocols, traditionally viewed as the earliest, most official and authentic records, nor does it include any that can be dated to a period during which persecution of Christians is known to have taken place. Rather than deduce from this that they are forgeries written for the sake of polemic or apologetic, Rebillard demonstrates how the literariness of the narratives creates a fictional complicity that challenges and complicates any claims of these narratives to be truthful.

Author : Candida Moss
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062104543
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Myth of Persecution written by Candida Moss and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Myth of Persecution, Candida Moss, a leading expert on early Christianity, reveals how the early church exaggerated, invented, and forged stories of Christian martyrs and how the dangerous legacy of a martyrdom complex is employed today to silence dissent and galvanize a new generation of culture warriors. According to cherished church tradition and popular belief, before the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal in the fourth century, early Christians were systematically persecuted by a brutal Roman Empire intent on their destruction. As the story goes, vast numbers of believers were thrown to the lions, tortured, or burned alive because they refused to renounce Christ. These saints, Christianity's inspirational heroes, are still venerated today. Moss, however, exposes that the "Age of Martyrs" is a fiction—there was no sustained 300-year-long effort by the Romans to persecute Christians. Instead, these stories were pious exaggerations; highly stylized rewritings of Jewish, Greek, and Roman noble death traditions; and even forgeries designed to marginalize heretics, inspire the faithful, and fund churches. The traditional story of persecution is still taught in Sunday school classes, celebrated in sermons, and employed by church leaders, politicians, and media pundits who insist that Christians were—and always will be—persecuted by a hostile, secular world. While violence against Christians does occur in select parts of the world today, the rhetoric of persecution is both misleading and rooted in an inaccurate history of the early church. Moss urges modern Christians to abandon the conspiratorial assumption that the world is out to get Christians and, rather, embrace the consolation, moral instruction, and spiritual guidance that these martyrdom stories provide.

Author : Éric Rebillard
Publisher : Oxford Early Christian Texts
ISBN 13 : 9780198739579
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Greek and Latin Narratives about the Ancient Martyrs written by Éric Rebillard and published by Oxford Early Christian Texts. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Greek and Latin Narratives about the Ancient Martyrs provides a collection, with facing-page translations, of Greek and Latin Christian martyr narratives dating from the first four centuries CE. While Herbert Musurillo's authoritative collection The Acts of the Martyrs (1972) aimed to gatherthe most "authentic" and "reliable" accounts of early Christian martyrdom, Eric Rebillard argues that modern scholarship instead calls for texts which attest to the contexts in which the memories of the martyrs were constructed. As such, this extensive volume provides a textual basis for the studyof martyr narratives without making assumptions about their date of composition or their authenticity. It focuses on the ancient martyrs executed before 260, and examines which of their texts was known to Eusebius or to Augustine. Introductions describe the hagiographical dossier of each martyr withcrucial information about the manuscript tradition of the different texts and provide a terminus ante quem for their composition based only on external evidence.

Author : Elizabeth Anne Castelli
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231129862
Total Pages : 376 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Martyrdom and Memory written by Elizabeth Anne Castelli and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utilising a wide range of early sources, this title identifies the roots of the concept of Christian martyrdom, as lloking at how it has been expressed in events such as the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999.

Author : Daniel Boyarin
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0804737045
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Dying for God written by Daniel Boyarin and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars have come to realize that we can and need to speak of a twin birth of Christianity and Judaism, not a genealogy in which one is parent to the other. In this book, the author develops a revised understanding of the interactions between nascent Christianity and nascent Judaism in late antiquity.

Author : Paul Middleton
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 111909982X
Total Pages : 564 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom written by Paul Middleton and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-04-06 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique, wide-ranging volume exploring the historical, religious, cultural, political, and social aspects of Christian martyrdom Although a well-studied and researched topic in early Christianity, martyrdom had become a relatively neglected subject of scholarship by the latter half of the 20th century. However, in the years following the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, the study of martyrdom has experienced a remarkable resurgence. Heightened cultural, religious, and political debates about Islamic martyrdom have, in a large part, prompted increased interest in the role of martyrdom in the Christian tradition. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom is a comprehensive examination of the phenomenon from its beginnings to its role in the present day. This timely volume presents essays written by 30 prominent scholars that explore the fundamental concepts, key questions, and contemporary debates surrounding martyrdom in Christianity. Broad in scope, this volume explores topics ranging from the origins, influences, and theology of martyrdom in the early church, with particular emphasis placed on the Martyr Acts, to contemporary issues of gender, identity construction, and the place of martyrdom in the modern church. Essays address the role of martyrdom after the establishment of Christendom, especially its crucial contribution during and after the Reformation period in the development of Christian and European national-building, as well as its role in forming Christian identities in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. This important contribution to Christian scholarship: Offers the first comprehensive reference work to examine the topic of martyrdom throughout Christian history Includes an exploration of martyrdom and its links to traditions in Judaism and Islam Covers extensive geographical zones, time periods, and perspectives Provides topical commentary on Islamic martyrdom and its parallels to the Christian church Discusses hotly debated topics such as the extent of the Roman persecution of early Christians The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of religious studies, theology, and Christian history, as well as readers with interest in the topic of Christian martyrdom.

Author : Zachary Wingerd
Publisher : Ancient Faith Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781955890038
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.3X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Syria Crucified written by Zachary Wingerd and published by Ancient Faith Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tragic war in Syria along with the plight of the Christians there remains among the most misunderstood situations in the world today. Syria Crucified seeks to contribute to better understanding in the West by giving a voice to individual Syrian Christians living in exile from their homeland. These men and women have undergone horrific trauma and loss without losing their faith in God or the ability to forgive their persecutors. Their first-person accounts, framed by the authors' narration for historical, cultural, and geopolitical context, are both edifying and inspiring.

Author : Maureen A. Tilley
Publisher : Liverpool University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780853239314
Total Pages : 148 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Donatist Martyr Stories written by Maureen A. Tilley and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With this volume, Donatism regains its voice and its hagiography is available in English for the first time. The stories included provide a unique opportunity to glimpse the daily life of the church which for over a century was the faith of the majority of North African Christians. The narratives represent the lives and deaths of Christians who carried on pre-Constantine traditions from the fourth century to the advent of Islam.