Toto

An upcoming lecture in Washington DC on Thursday, March 21, 2013, 7:30 PM:

“You’re Such a Martyr!”: The History and Controversy of Persecution in the Early Church

According to cherished church tradition, early Christians were uniquely and systematically persecuted by a brutal Roman Empire. Vast numbers of believers were thrown to the lions or routinely tortured or burned alive. In spite of these horrors, so the story goes, these heroes of the early church chose to die rather than renounce their trust in God. Such stories form part of the teaching of the church to the present day, inspiring some to acts of like courage in the face of modern hardships. Yet there is also the troubling use of this heritage to silence the voices of those who act outside the perceived orthodoxies of the day.

In this lecture, Professor Candida Moss will address the history of persecution in the early church, and show how this history includes exaggerations and forgeries that eventually became part of the imagination of the church. Moss will also address the question of the legacy of this history; a legacy that has animated the acts of some within the religious world to exclude those who would challenge their hegemony.

Candida Moss specializes in biblical studies and early Christian history, she holds an undergraduate degree in Theology from the University of Oxford, a Masters degree in Biblical Studies from Yale Divinity School, and a doctorate in Religious Studies from Yale University. She has published four books and over twenty-five articles and essays on various aspects of Biblical and early Christian literature, history, and thought. An award-winning author, her first book, The Other Christs: Imitating Jesus in Ancient Christian Ideologies of Martyrdom (or via: amazon.co.uk) (Oxford, 2010) was awarded the 2011 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise and she has been the recipient of grants and awards from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Roger Pearse

Sounds almost identical in approach and justification to the people who deny that the holocaust happened.

And I don't think we know about those events through "cherished church tradition". Our sources of information are literary and documentary texts.

MrMacSon

Of course the sources of information for early christian history are literary texts: whether they are 'documentary' is another issue - a highly contentious one.

It seems highly likely that the alleged 'history' we have today favors the (eventual) victors - the christians. That such a supposedly overwhelmingly persecuted group came to dominate the Roman Empire suggests embellishment of the persecution to exaggerate the 'martyrdom'.

sharrock

One thing I do recall from my guided tour around the Flavian Amphitheatre was the tour guide informing me there were no records of Christians being thrown the the lions.

Duvduv

I am thankful I am not a professional historian who has to try to keep promoting my CV churning out more and more fanciful stories in dutiful obedience to the empire-sponsored apologists and heresiologists.

sotto voce

Who admits to murder of innocents?

sharrock

I imagine the Flavian Dynasty were ambivalent.

sotto voce

Is that an answer?

MrMacSon

That is a leading question (an informal fallacy) - implying there were innocents and they were murdered.

sotto voce

No. It's a rhetorical one.

That's informal fallacy.

Not the first today.