Martyrdom and Rome

Rating:
Summary: Impressive but flawed
Review: Bowersock is a distinguished scholar- particularly of the Greek world- who delivered the Wiles lectures at Belfast- upon which this book is based- in the early 90's.

The book is terse, readable and compelling and it is clear that it would have made an effective lecture series. The importance of marytrdom is set in its cultural context- and its importance for the development of Christianity is analysed. The key mistake of this book is the highly controversial notion that the approach to death of Christian martyrs- because of the etymological development of the greek 'martyr'- was original and is divorcable from previous attitudes to self sacrifice. This rules out the highly likely role of the self sacrifice of the Maccabees of the second century as a formative influence for Christian notions of self sacrifice. This notion has not been approved by scholars- before and since. The Macabees were an important precursor to Christian martyrdom in the shaping of their religious identities.

This said, the book makes an important contribution to awareness of the etymological development of the word 'martyr' itself and problematises its ascription to instances of self sacrifice before the late second century. To call self sacrifice 'martyrdom' before this is shown to be a linguistic anachronism, since the term 'martyr' had not developed this aspect before then.

In summary, Bowersock's book is provocative and well worth reading for anyone interested in the construction of a Christian identity and in the self-definition of the early Christian community in antiquity. Bowersock's powerful knowledge of all things Hellenic generates some startling cross-cultural observations which are of integral importance to conceptions of the development of Christianity and of religion in general throughout antiquity. To be - qualifiedly- recommended.