Notions of Orthodoxy in Early Christian Martyrdom Accounts

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Abstract

The study of martyrdom has always implicitly involved assumptions about orthodoxy and heterodoxy in the early Church. In traditional ecclesiastical context as well as scholarship, martyrdom is often assumed to be orthodox in practice. This is in large part due to ancient caricatures of 'heretical' groups being either suicidal or anti-martyrdom. In recent years a great deal of scholarship on identity formation in the early church has pointed to the ways ion which the concept and category of the martyr was used in the formation of the idea and language of the 'true Christian.' In these studies the concept of the 'true martyr' and the 'true Christian' in ancient literature are interlaced and overlapping. We might say that they are co-produced. What it means to be Christian then, is to die as a martyr.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Other Side: Apocryphal Perspectives on Early Christian Orthodoxies
EditorsTobias Nicklas, Candida Moss, Jos Verheyden, Christopher Tuckett
PublisherVandenhoeck & Ruprecht
ISBN (Print)9783525540589
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jul 2017

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