Donatist Martyr Stories

Donatist Martyr Stories PDF

Author: Maureen A. Tilley

Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Published: 1996-01-01

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780853239314

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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.

The Donatist Church in an Apocalyptic Age

The Donatist Church in an Apocalyptic Age PDF

Author: Jesse A. Hoover

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-05-31

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0192559419

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The Donatist Church in an Apocalyptic Age examines an apocalypse that never happened, seen through the eyes of a dissident church that no longer exists. Jesse A. Hoover considers Donatists, members of an ecclesiastical communion that for a brief moment formed the majority church in Roman North Africa—modern Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya—before fading away sometime between the fifth and seventh centuries. Hoover studies how Donatists perceived the end of the world to offer a glimpse into the inner life of the dissident communion: what it valued, whom it feared, and how it defined its place in history while on the cusp of history's end. By recovering these appeals to apocalyptic themes in surviving Donatist writings, this study uncovers a significant element within the dissident movement's self-perception that has so far gone unexamined. In contrast to previous assessments, it argues that such eschatological expectations are not out of sync with the wider world of Latin Christianity in late antiquity, and that they functioned as an effective polemical strategy designed to counter their opponents' claim to be the true church in North Africa.

The Bible in Christian North Africa

The Bible in Christian North Africa PDF

Author: Maureen A. Tilley

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published:

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9781451414523

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In today's demands for moral absolutes, the puritanism of early Christian Donatists is reflected. Maureen A. Tilley's study gives new insight into the Donatist church by focusing attention on the surviving Donatist controversies. She persuasively shows how Donatist interpretations of Scripture correlate with changes in the social setting of their church.

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom PDF

Author: Paul Middleton

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-04-06

Total Pages: 564

ISBN-13: 111909982X

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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.

Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric

Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric PDF

Author: Adam Ployd

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 0190914149

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"This monograph places Augustine's martyr discourse in the context of classical rhetoric in order to flesh out the claim that such discourse is inherently rhetorical. It is argued that Augustine's martyr discourse can be understood as rhetorical in three ways: First, Augustine develops and deploys his understanding of martyrdom within particular rhetorical contexts. This is the weakest and most general sense of "rhetorical" that will appear in this study, falling short of, yet providing the necessary context for, the more technical analyses that make up the heart of the book. Second, Augustine uses techniques of classical rhetorical argumentation to construct his martyrs and to create their theological significance. This claim refers less to techniques of ornamentation or style than it does to those techniques more associated with the category of inventio and to some degree dispositio. Third, in Augustine's depiction, the martyrs themselves are ideal Christian rhetors"--

The Myth of Persecution

The Myth of Persecution PDF

Author: Candida Moss

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2013-03-05

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0062104543

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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.

Christian Martyrdom and Political Violence

Christian Martyrdom and Political Violence PDF

Author: Rubén Rosario Rodríguez

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-07-13

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1316949753

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In recent years, martyrdom and political violence have been conflated in the public imagination. Rubén Rosario Rodríguez argues that martyr narratives deserve consideration as resources for resisting political violence in contemporary theological reflection. Underlying the three Abrahamic monotheistic traditions is a shared belief that God requires liberation for the oppressed, justice for the victims and, most demanding of all, love for the political enemy. Christian, Jewish and Muslim martyr narratives that condone political violence - whether terrorist or state-sponsored - are examined alongside each religion's canon, in order to evaluate how central or marginalized these discourses are within their respective traditions. Primarily a work of Christian theology in conversation with Judaism and Islam, this book aims to model religious pluralism and cooperation by retrieving distinctly Christian sources that nurture tolerance and facilitate coexistence, while respecting religious difference.

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