1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910813445503321

Autore

Moss Candida <1978->

Titolo

Ancient Christian martyrdom : diverse practices, theologies, and traditions / / Candida R. Moss

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, : Yale University Press, c2012

ISBN

1-280-77051-1

9786613681287

0-300-15466-6

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (256 p.)

Collana

The Anchor Yale Bible reference library

Disciplina

272/.1

Soggetti

Church history - Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600

Martyrdom - Christianity - History

Persecution - History - Early church, ca. 30-600

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Cultural Contexts: The Good Death and the Self- Conscious Sufferer -- 2. Asia Minor: Imitating Christ -- 3. Rome: Contesting Philosophy -- 4. Gaul: The Victors of Vienne and Lyons -- 5 Roman North Africa: Apocalyptic Ascent -- 6. Alexandria: Clement and the True Martyr -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- General Index -- Index of Modern Authors -- Index of Ancient Sources

Sommario/riassunto

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.