While imitatio Christi has widely been recognised as a narrative element of the Martyrdom of Polycarp, other possible literary allusions have been under‐explored. This article examines the presence of allusions to the death of Socrates in the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Socrates was often used in Christian apologetic contexts, thus its possible presence in Martyrdom of Polycarp is not surprising. This article seeks to understand the narrative function of Socratic allusions, especially relating to the text's construction of martyrdom and its Christology. It posits that imitatio Christi and imitatio Socratis function together apologetically to demonstrate the reasonableness of Christian worship of Jesus.
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Does martyrdom hurt? For a wide variety of reasons, the answer to this question may seem to be an obvious “yes.” Divine Deliverance, however, demonstrates that early Christian martyr texts answer this question with an emphatic “No!” Indeed, ancient discussions of Christian martyrdom reveal an abiding interest in the insensitivity of the Christian body during torture and martyrdom. These claims to painlessness work to (re-)define Christianity in the ancient world: while Christians could not deny the reality that they were subject to state violence, they could argue that they were not ultimately vulnerable to its painful effects. The claims to painlessness in martyrdom reflect the theological—rather than historical—concerns of the martyr texts: Christians are not alone when they are tortured. Rather, God is with them, miraculously protecting their bodies from the pain of martyrdom.
In Christian Memories of the Maccabean Martyrs, Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski seeks to trace the reception of the tradition of the Maccabean martyrs in Christian literature from late antiquity through the medieval period. The book joins a number of other recent studies of Jewish and Christian martyrdom that focus on the ways martyr stories construct identities. Christian Memories of the Maccabean Martyrs is a revision of the author's dissertation, completed at Boston College; it consists of a short introduction followed by four chapters and a conclusion. The introduction sets Joslyn-Siemiatkoski's chronological and geographical perimeters: "This book is about the Christian memories of the Maccabean martyrs from the early to late medieval Christian periods, ranging geographically from the eastern Mediterranean to northwestern Europe" (1). It also introduces the theoretical lenses through which the author reads his sources: memory theory and post-colonialism, especially the category of "hybridity." Hybridity is typically used by this author to denote a process of Christian domination of Judaism: "I see hybridity as an instrument that can be deployed as an object of either resistance or control depending on context" (192n164). Chapter 1 is a brief chapter that begins with a summary of 2 Maccabees 7 and then a discussion of early Jewish reformulations of that narrative, especially 4 Maccabees but also The Assumption of Moses and Josephus's Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities. The last pages of the chapter turn to consider the reception of the Maccabean martyrs in early Christianity, focusing exclusively on Cyprian's Letter to Fortunatus. Chapter 2 considers late ancient bishops' (primarily Gregory of Nazianzus, Ambrose, John Chrysostom, and Augustine) appropriations of the Maccabees. This chapter is structured around three narrative motifs: the use of the Maccabean martyrs as, first, "a narrative of resistance against unjust imperial authority" (30); second, "a marker of difference between. .. Catholic Christian communities and rival groups" (for example, Jews, Donatists, Manichees; 30); and third, as "models for ideal Christian virtues and behavior" (31). Chapter 3, on the medieval West, is also organized around three Christian concerns regarding the use of the Maccabean martyrs: first, by Rabanus Maurus and Rupert of Deutz "to alternately support and critique the imperial aspirations of Christian rulers" (81); second, by Anselm of Laon, John Beleth, and Bernard of Clairvaux to alter "late antique explanations for the BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTES
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