On the Frequency of Voluntary Martyrdom in the Patristic Era
Abstract Contemporary scholarship on early Christian martyrdom has tended to accept the position of G. E. M. de Ste. Croix that voluntary martyrdom, or handing oneself over to the authorities prior to being sought out or arrested, was quite common. This view falls apart, however, if we avoid an over...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2019]
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| In: |
The journal of theological studies
Year: 2019, Volume: 70, Issue: 2, Pages: 652-679 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Church
/ Martyrdom
/ Voluntariness
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| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KCD Hagiography; saints SA Church law; state-church law |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Abstract Contemporary scholarship on early Christian martyrdom has tended to accept the position of G. E. M. de Ste. Croix that voluntary martyrdom, or handing oneself over to the authorities prior to being sought out or arrested, was quite common. This view falls apart, however, if we avoid an overly broad definition of voluntary martyrdom, a problem common to Ste. Croix and contemporaries such as Arthur Droge, Paul Middleton, and Candida Moss, who count various political protestors, public edifiers, and comforters and aiders as voluntary martyrs. In fact, if we carefully examine the accounts of martyrdom that took place in the first four centuries, voluntary martyrdom, though not unknown, makes up a small percentage of the whole, around 12 per cent instead of the 50 per cent described by Ste. Croix and others. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jts/flz108 |