Middleton, Paul,

2018-05-22T12:45:32Z

2018-05-22T12:45:32Z

2005

In the early Church, several views on martyrdom co-existed. The 'orthodox' position, generally accepted by modern scholars, was that a Christian should choose martyrdom rather than deny the Faith, but should not, on any account, court death. Although it has been recognised that some in the early Church did in fact seek out death, by giving themselves over to arrest, most scholars have dismissed these martyrs as 'deviant,' 'heretical,' and not displaying 'the normal Christian attitude to martyrdom.' Therefore, instances of volitional, or radical martyrdom, as it will be called, have been largely ignored in scholarly investigation into the theology and origins of Christian martyrdom.

However, this thesis argues that, far from being a deviant strand of early Christianity, radical martyrdom was a significant, and widely-held, idealised form of Christ-devotion in the late first to early third centuries. Since scholars have largely carried out historical and theological investigations without reference to radical martyrdom, their conclusions are incomplete. This project aims to make up for this omission, re-examining the presentation, theology, and origins of Christian martyrdom up to the beginning of the Decian persecutions.

First, this thesis demonstrates the pervasiveness of radical martyrdom in the second and early third centuries, noting that the phenomenon is found even in those martyr texts regarded as being 'orthodox.' Next, the theological world which the early Christians inhabited, making radical martyrdom (at least ideally), a viable option, will be examined. It will be argued that the early Christian construction of reality clashed so dramatically with the Roman State that Christians could not demonstrate the base levels ofpiety required by the Romans. This brought Christians into conflict with their pagan neighbours, conflict which they then Imperialised.

After assessing various theories accounting for the development Christian martyrdom, the thesis concludes that a matrix of factors influenced Christian martyrology, and in particular, a Christianisation of Jewish Holy War tradition. The Christians located themselves in the midst of an apocalyptic struggle-rz cosmic conflict-between God and Satan, where there deaths of the martyrs were actually believed to contribute to the final eschatological victory. Satan assaulted the Christians, and, through his earthly servants, attempted to snare the potential martyr by forcing denial. However, in creating a cosmos in which death and life were deconstructed, martyrdom was believed to be a potent weapon against Satan, so that each successful martyr-by following the model of Jesus' death, and sharing in his victory-hastened the moment of Satan's final defeat; the cosmos literally turned on their confession.

Finally, since the New Testament period encompasses the bridge between Jewish martyrology and Christian Radical martyrdom, the development of Christian martyrology is traced through the books of the New Testament.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/30512

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2018 Block 19

Already catalogued

Radical martyrdom and cosmic conflict in early Christianity

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

PhD Doctor of Philosophy