Philosophy as training for death: reading the ancient Christian martyr acts as spiritual exercises.

From: Church History | Date: December 1, 2006| Author: | Copyright information

In recent years several notable studies--including those by Judith Perkins, Daniel Boyarin, and Elizabeth Castelli--have assessed the importance of martyrdom and suffering in constructions of ancient Christian identity. (1) This essay takes as its starting point the observation by Perkins that in early Christian communities, the threat of suffering (whether real or perceived) worked to create a particular kind of self. (2) In Perkins's view, many ancient Christians came to believe that "to be a Christian was to suffer." (3) Christian martyr acts, when understood as textual ...

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