RT Article
T1 Early Christian Voluntary Martyrdom: A Statement for the Defence
JF The journal of theological studies
VO 64
IS 2
SP 556
OP 573
A1 Middleton, Paul 1970-
LA English
PB Oxford University Press
YR 2013
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1783732512
AB Many studies of early Christian martyrdom have noted the phenomenon of voluntary martyrdom. However, most scholars, drawing on criticism of the practice found in the Martyrdom of Polycarp and Clement of Alexandria, dismiss those who provoked their own arrest and death as deviant, heretical, or numerically insignificant. This article argues instead that the earliest Christian martyrologies celebrate voluntary martyrdom as a valid mainstream Christian practice, which faced only isolated challenge in the first three centuries. Furthermore, pagan sources support the view that voluntary martyrdom was a significant historical as well as literary phenomenon. As there is no reason to conclude voluntary martyrdom was anything other than a valid subset of proto-orthodox Christian martyrdom, more attention should be paid to this phenomenon by early Christian historians.
DO 10.1093/jts/flt123