The Discourse of Voluntary Martyrdom

Ancient and Modern

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3378733
AutoresCandida R Mo (0000-0002-1189-1190, autor de correspondencia), Candida R Moss
Año2012
Volumen81
Número3
Páginas531-551
Fecha de publicación2012-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaChurch History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0009-6407 • E-ISSN: 1755-2613
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0009640712001254
OpenAlexW2168310667
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas15
Referencias citadas23

While the social and intellectual basis of voluntary martyrdom is fiercely debated, scholarship on Christian martyrdom has unanimously distinguished between "martyrdom" and "voluntary martyrdom" as separate phenomena, practices, and categories from the second century onward. Yet there is a startling dearth of evidence for the existence of the category of the "voluntary martyr" prior to the writings of Clement of Alexandria. This paper has two interrelated aims: to review the evidence for the category of the voluntary martyr in ancient martyrological discourse and to trace the emergence of the category of the voluntary martyr in modern scholarship on martyrdom. It will argue both that the category began to emerge only in the third century in the context of efforts to justify flight from persecution, and also that the assumption of Clement's taxonomy of approaches to martyrdom by scholars is rooted in modern constructions of the natural

Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology) · Linguistics · Literature · Martyr · Persecution · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · TRACE (psycholinguistics) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classics · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy