Abstract
These papers were delivered at a conference held in the University of Jena in 2001. They cover a variety of topics related to the martyrs and the Acta martyrum. Klaus Rosen writes very briefly (13-17) about the martyrs' activity on behalf of unity in the faith. I wonder if two of his examples convey quite the meaning which he sees in them: Polycarp's concern for his fellow Christians could be a concern to minimize their physical danger rather than an effort to summon them to gain salvation by martyrdom; the peace offered by the martyrs in prison probably resolved more than theological differences. Detlef Liebs leads his readers through a dozen early accounts of martyrs and highlights the propaganda value that their encounters with the Roman authorities had for the spreading of Christian belief (19-46). Though Jan Willem van Henten does not explicitly refer to Liebs' proposal, his own paper (59-75) takes a contrary position. Arguing from 4 Maccabees, which "is definitely not a report of a persecution that took place just before the composition of the book" (74), he urges a reconsideration of Christian texts about martyrdom, which may not have arisen from persecution but served other social functions unnamed in the texts themselves.
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