Buch, Englisch, 644 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 154 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 900 g
Reihe: James Clarke
Buch, Englisch, 644 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 154 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 900 g
Reihe: James Clarke
ISBN: 978-0-227-17229-2
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
The definitive survey of martyrdom and persecution during the first four centuries of Christianity.
Although the story of the triumphant rise of Christianity has often been told, it was a triumph achieved through blood and tribulation. The literal meaning of the term martyr meant witness, but among early Christians it quickly acquired a harsher meaning – one who died for the faith – and that witness through death was responsible for many conversions, including those of Justin Martyr, himself to offer just such witness, and perhaps Tertullian.
Persecution was seen by early Christians, as by later historians, as one of the crucial influences on the growth and development of the early Church and Christian beliefs. Why did the Roman Empire persecute Christians? Why did thousands of Christians not merely accept but welcome martyrdom?
In his classic work, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church, the late W.H.C. Frend explores the mindset of those who suffered persecution as well as the motivation of those who persecuted them. He shows the critical importance for early Christians of Jewish ideas, influenced heavily as they were by the story of Daniel and the trauma of the revolt of the Maccabeean. He argues that the Christian concept of martyrdom, so highly regarded among early Christians, can only be understood as springing from Jewish roots.
Frend explores a number of major persecutions, such as that in Lyons in the second century, the Decian Persecution in the third, and the Great Persecution under Diocletian in the fourth, showing both the common themes and the variations, and examines also the relationship between the heavenly kingdom of Christ and the rule of the earthly emperor. In doing so he shows how the persecutions formed an essential part in a providential philosophy of history that has profoundly influenced European political thought.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
Weitere Infos & Material
Preface
Introduction
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
I. The Martyrs of Lyons
II. Judaism and Martyrdom
III. Martyrdom in the New Testament Period
IV. Rome and Foreign Cults
V. The Legacy of the Hellenistic East to A.D. 41
VI. The Church and the World to A.D. 70
VII. Old Israel and New, 70-135
VIII. Lord Caesar or Lord Christ? 70-138
IX. The False Dawn, 135-165
X. The Years of Crisis, 165-180
XI. The Turn of the Tide, 180-235
XII. The Great Divide: Alexandria, Carthage and Rome, 190-240
XIII. Decius
XIV. The Triumph of Christianity, 260-303
XV. The Great Persecution, 303-312
XVI. What has the Emperor to do with the Church? 312-361
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
