Ancient Christian Martyrdom

The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library

by Candida R. Moss

The importance of martyrdom for the spread of Christianity in the first centuries of the Common Era is a question of enduring interest. In this innovative new study, Candida Moss offers a radically new history of martyrdom in the first and second centuries that challenges traditional understandings of the spread of Christianity and rethinks the nature of Christian martyrdom itself. Martyrdom, Moss shows, was not a single idea, theology, or practice: there were diverse perspectives and understandings of what it meant to die for Christ.Beginning with an overview of ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish ideas about death, Moss demonstrates that there were many cultural contexts within which early Christian views of martyrdom were very much at home. She then shows how distinctive and diverging theologies of martyrdom emerged in different ancient congregations. In the process she reexamines the authenticity of early Christian stories about martyrs and calls into question the dominant scholarly narrative about the spread of martyrdom in the ancient world.

Genres: Christianity, Theology, Nonfiction, Church History

271 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 26, 2013

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an essential read for those interested in the development of ancient Christianities and Christian ideas of martyrom. Moss' writing is lucid and clear, her engagement with the ancient authors is insightful.

[Brian Bigelow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows how martyrdom became an integral part of Christian belief by the second century of the current era. It seems that for many Christian writers death was something that was preferable to life as I reading through the book.

The primary allusion I gathered is that becoming a martyr had its own special allure. That allure drew more to become Christian so that they could become a part too. One thing that also became clear was that martyrdom was rather sporadic in reality except during the reign of Diocletian when active persecution occurred.

What surprised me most about this book is the great esteem Socrates's death held for many. It was the epitome of a good death his calmly accepting his fate.