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Journal articles on the topic 'Persecutions of Christians'
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1
Ambach, Florian. "Christenverfolgungen im Römischen Reich. Elemente eines imperialen Niedergangs." historia.scribere, no. 10 (June 19, 2018): 193. http://dx.doi.org/10.15203/historia.scribere.10.101.
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Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire: Elements of an imperial declineThe following seminar-paper aims to examine how the persecution of Christians in the early centuries of the Christian era relates to the decline to the Roman Empire. It gives an overview of the period from Nero’s persecutions in 64 AD to the legalization of Christianism in 313 AD, or the end of the civil wars between Constantine and his rivals Maxentius, Maximinus Daia and Licinius around 324 AD respectively. It puts a special emphasis on the essential characteristics of what is called an “empire”.
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LEE, SANG GYOO. "The Church in Korea: Persecution and Subsequent Growth." Unio Cum Christo 1, no. 1 (October 1, 2015): 127. http://dx.doi.org/10.35285/ucc1.1-2.2015.art16.
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Abstract: Persecution of Christians in Korea, like that of Christians in ancient Rome, reveals that Christian teaching clashes with surrounding cultures. A survey of the persecutions of Christians in Korea in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (first of Catholic Christians, then by Japanese, and finally under communism) reveals both political and religious factors. Yet, recalling Tertullian, the author reminds us that persecution is seen to result in the growth, purification, and strengthening of the church. Finally, the author recalls the amazing church growth in Korean history and concludes with a warning about the danger faced by the church in the context of economic prosperity.
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Rives, J. B. "The Decree of Decius and the Religion of Empire." Journal of Roman Studies 89 (November 1999): 135–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/300738.
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In A.D. 249 the emperor Trajan Decius issued an edict requiring the inhabitants of the Roman Empire to sacrifice to the gods. With this decree, he also inaugurated the first empire-wide persecution of Christians. Previously, persecutions of Christians had always been local affairs determined by local conditions. Thereafter, persecutions were largely instigated by emperors and took place on an imperial scale. It has consequently become common to distinguish pre-Decian persecution, characterized by its local and ad hoc nature, from the centrally organized persecutions of Decius in A.D. 249–50, Valerian in A.D. 257–60, and Diocletian, Galerius, and Maximinus in A.D. 303–13. The importance of the decree as a turning point in the history of Christian persecution is thus widely recognized. Beyond this, discussions of the decree have usually focused on its precise nature and the motivations behind it; given the limited evidence, however, these discussions have tended to be inconclusive. In this paper I will return to a consideration of the decree's effects, but in the context of traditional religion rather than that of Christianity. I will argue that, seen from this perspective, the decree was a highly innovative and important step towards a radical restructuring of religious organization in the Roman world.
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Swist, Jeremy J. "Satan’s Empire: Ancient Rome’s anti-Christian appeal in extreme metal." Metal Music Studies 5, no. 1 (March 1, 2019): 35–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/mms.5.1.35_1.
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This article discusses the previously unexplored intersection of the reception of classical antiquity in extreme metal with Satanic and anti-Christian themes. It is demonstrable that the phenomenon has roots in the genesis of extreme metal itself, especially in its inheritance from biblical and literary history of the associations between Satan and Roman emperors. As extreme metal evolved over the past three decades, that theme combined with the perception that imperial Rome had undertaken widespread and sustained persecutions of Christians, including spectacular executions for the sake of popular entertainment, throughout the three-century history of the early Church. This is despite the consensus of many modern historians that the Romans were largely tolerant of Christians and persecutions were brief, isolated, more humane, and cost much fewer lives than early Christian sources suggest. It is evident that metal artists inherit, and thereby perpetuate, a tradition manufactured by Christian sources that have largely been debunked; yet these artists depart from those Christian sources by denying the appeal of martyrdom and shifting sympathies to imperial Rome and its ‘Satanic’ emperors. Like Satan himself, these emperors function as symbols of masculine aggression and liberation of the passions from contemporary political and moral systems. Such anti-establishment sentiments, especially among Italian artists, can manifest in fantasies of a Roman Empire reborn. By their artistic license, extreme metal artists continue to reshape a literary and artistic legacy of the imperial Rome and constructions of persecution narratives developed over the course of the late antique, medieval and modern periods.
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Clemence, William. "The Pasio Vincentii in Augustine’s Sermones de Sanctis." Mayéutica 46, no. 101 (2020): 111–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/mayeutica2020461015.
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The article makes a brief exposition of the context of the first persecutions against the Christians, particularly highlighting the persecution of Diocletian, to later analyze the effects of the Constantinian peace. The importance that within the context of the Constantinian peace acquired the cult of martyrs, like the first Christian heroes, is exposed. Later the importance of the literature about martyrs of the first centuries is revealed. In a second part of the article, the sermons that Saint Augustine dedicated to Saint Vincent are studied, namely, sermons 4; 274-277 / A; 359 / B. A detailed study is made of each one of them, both at the rhetorical level and mainly in terms of content, to highlight the ideas and Augustine’s theology. The role that the sermons of Saint Augustine played in the transmission of the Passio Vincentii is particularly stressed.
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Eshete, Tibebe. "Persecution and Social Resilience: The Case of the Ethiopian Pentecostals." Mission Studies 34, no. 3 (October 9, 2017): 309–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15733831-12341521.
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Abstract Persecution has long constituted part of the spiritual repertoire of evangelical Christians in Ethiopia. Ever since its introduction by Western missionaries, the new Christian faith has provided an alternative model to the one that pre-existed it in the form of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (eoc). The new dimension of Christianity that is anchored in the doctrine of personal salvation and sanctification provided a somewhat different template of what it means to be a Christian by choice rather than belonging to a preset culture. This was antithetical to the conventional mode of culturally and historically situated Christianity, which strongly lays emphasis on adherence to certain prescribed rituals like fasting, the observances of saintly days, and devotions to saints. Its introduction by foreigners is often contrasted with an indigenous faith tradition which is considered to have a long history dating back to the apostolic times. The tendency of evangelical Christians to disassociate themselves from the local culture, as emblematic of holiness and separation from the world, viewed from the other optic, lent it the label mete, literally “imported” or “of foreign extraction”. The state support the established church had garnered for a long time, plus its massive influences, also accorded the eoc a privileged position to exercise a dominant role in the social, political, and cultural life of the country. This article explores the theme of persecution of Evangelical Christians in light of the above framework. It crucially examines the persecution of Pentecostals prior to the Ethiopian Revolution of 1974 and afterwards. Two reasons justify my choice. First, it lends the article a clear focus and secondly, Pentecostalism has been one of the potent vehicles for the expansion of evangelical Christianity in Ethiopia. I argue that the pre-revolutionary persecution stems from the fact that the Pentecostals presented some kind of spiritual shock waves to the familiar terrains of Christianity and that the main reason for their persecutions during the revolution was the fact that they countered hegemonic narratives that presented themselves in the form of Marxism, which became the doctrine of the state under the banner of “scientific socialism.”
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Rebillard, Eric. "Popular Hatred Against Christians: the Case of North Africa in the Second and Third Centuries." Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 16, no. 1 (November 13, 2015): 283–310. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/arege-2014-0016.
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Abstract Popular hatred against Christians is often presented as an important factor in the persecutions. This paper argues that where evidence is available, which is the case for North Africa in the second and third centuries, popular hatred does not seem to play a significant role in the processes that led to the executions of Christians. It further suggests that popular hatred against Christians is in large part a construction of the ecclesiastical leadership. They create a context of communal hostility and violence for episodes that do not seem to amount to more than individual executions and thus try to foster a sense of community among Christians.
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Jung, Gi-moon. "Were Catacombs Refuges of Early Christians during the Roman Persecutions?" Institute of History and Culture Hankuk University of Foreign Studies 60 (November 30, 2016): 225–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.18347/hufshis.2016.60.225.
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Nagy, Àgnes. "SUPERSTITIO ET CONIURATIO." Numen 49, no. 2 (2002): 178–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156852702760186763.
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AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to draw the attention to one of the reasons which may have contributed to the suspicion against—as well as the local persecutions of—the Christians in the second and third centuries. We want to point to the possibility that the new religious community changes into a coniuratio and becomes a danger for the ancient community from which it has come. Christianity, just as the Bacchanalia, was more than an ordinary superstitio. According to Livy, the Bacchanalia showed four characteristics distinguishing them from a superstitio: 1) new, strong links within the group instead of the ancient ones which connected the members to their traditional social structure; 2) an oath of initiation to respect the own laws of the new community; 3) animosity against the State; 4) the large numbers of the followers. Pliny the Younger found three of these characteristics with the Christians of Bithynia. For Pliny, the only difference consisted in the fact that the Bacchanalia obliged the members to break Roman law and thereby became a coniuratio, whereas Christians did not commit crimes and for this reason Christianity had not yet changed from a superstitio praua to a coniuratio. However, the vocabulary of Tacitus, Suetonius, and Celsus, as well as the description of the Christian persecution in Lugdunum and Vienna, show that most Romans did not make this distinction. In their eyes Christianity, this new community so similar to the coniuratio of the Bacchanalia, was a real threat to the existence of traditional society and deserved to be punished as such—by extermination.
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De Gaetano, Miryam. "Nell’attesa del Giorno. Il contesto storico-culturale del Carmen de resurrectione." Augustinianum 59, no. 1 (2019): 129–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/agstm20195916.
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The aim of this study is to determine the historical and cultural context of the pseudoepigraphic Carmen de resurrectione. The Carmen treats poetically many subjects of Christian eschatology: the second coming of Christ, the final judgement, heaven and hell, the universal conflagration. The author believes that the end time is imminent. This perception is common to all the Christians who experienced tribulations: persecutions, natural calamities, barbarian invasions. These painful events urged the Christians to undertake a path of true conversion, in the religious and moral sense. Unlike other poets (Commodianus, Verecundus), the Anonymous author emphasises the virtuous value of the hope of divine reward rather than the fear of divine punishment. The same perspective can be found in the poets and in the monks of early fifth-century Gaul, who suffered the barbarian invasion of 406.
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Clay, J. Eugene. "Contact, Conflict, and Crisis in Eastern Christianity." Canadian-American Slavic Studies 53, no. 3 (August 27, 2019): 213–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22102396-05303001.
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Abstract In this issue of Canadian-American Slavic Studies, eight authors explore Eastern Christian communities from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Originating as papers presented at the sixth biennial conference of the Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture (http://easternchristianity.org) at Rhodes College in 2015, these articles have been carefully selected for their original contributions and revised for publication. From disputes over monastic landholding in the sixteenth century to the vicious persecutions of the Soviet period, Eastern Christians have responded creatively to historical crises, even as they have faced both internal and external conflicts. These thought-provoking essays provide significant analyses of these responses and offer penetrating insights into Eastern Christianity.
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Lange, Armin. "Jews in Ancient and Late Ancient Asia Minor between Acceptance and Rejection." Journal of Ancient Judaism 5, no. 2 (May 14, 2014): 223–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.30965/21967954-00502009.
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This article surveys the evidence for and history of Jews and Judaism in Asia Minor with a special focus on the denigration and persecution of Jews by pagans and Christians in Asia Minor. The article argues that Jews thrived in this part of the Roman empire from the Hellenistic period until the Arab conquest and lived both in urban and rural settings in most parts of Asia Minor. Despite their flourishing, Jews had to deal with Anti-Semitic slander, denigration, and attacks from pagans and Christians. The situation worsened with the rise of Christianity to the official religion of the Roman Empire. In the 7th cent., increased anti-Semitism led to a decline of Judaism in Asia Minor. Before this time, despite legal and other persecutions, Jews emphasized and practiced their Judaism and despite a prohibition to the contrary Jews build new synagogues even in the century before the Arab conquest. Anti-Semitism in Asia Minor would thus not have blocked the construction of a synagogue in Limyra in this period.
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Shepkaru, Shmuel. "The Preaching of the First Crusade and the Persecutions of the Jews." Medieval Encounters 18, no. 1 (2012): 93–135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157006712x634576.
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Abstract Although the versions of Pope Urban’s call for the First Crusade focus on the need to liberate the Holy Land from the Muslims, crusaders and locals attacked first the communities of the Franco-German (Ashkenazic) Jews. Both contemporary and modern historians have offered a variety of explanations for these uncalled-for devastating attacks. Without discounting some of these proposals, this article applies the psychological explanation of Displacement to offer an additional reason. The article suggests that the urgent call to retaliate against the Muslims immediately and the many graphic descriptions of alleged Muslim atrocities against Eastern Christians and Christian pilgrims in the propaganda of the First Crusade created mounting frustration in Europe. And since this frustration could not be expressed immediately and directly against its source, i.e., the faraway Muslims, the attackers displaced their aggression onto the nearby Jews. Moreover, Displacement also explains the many close parallels between the images of Muslim atrocities in crusading rhetoric and the idiosyncratic manifestations of the violence against European Jews in the early stages of the First Crusade.
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Turnbull, Stephen. "The Veneration of the Martyrs of Ikitsuki (1609-1645) by the Japanese ‘Hidden Christians’." Studies in Church History 30 (1993): 295–310. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400011773.
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Christianity came to Japan in 1549 in the person of the ‘Apostle to the Indies’, St Francis Xavier, yet in spite of initial progress both in making converts and in becoming part of the Japanese religious milieu, within a century it had virtually disappeared, harried to its demise by savage persecutions from a government convinced that Christianity was a threat to its survival. The suppression of Christianity produced many martyrs, of whom the best known are the ‘Twenty-Six Martyrs of Nagasaki’, crucified in 1597 and canonized in 1862. Of the thousands of others who perished, many are known neither by name nor date of martyrdom, but in one unique case the martyrs of a particular island are remembered and honoured by one of the world’s most secretive Christian groups, the Kakure Kirishitan, or ‘Hidden Christians’ of Japan.
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Vu Thanh, Hélène. "The Glorious Martyrdom of the Cross. The Franciscans and the Japanese Persecutions of 1597." Culture & History Digital Journal 6, no. 1 (May 19, 2017): 005. http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2017.005.
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The Franciscan martyrdom of 1597 was not an unprecedented event in the young history of Japanese Christianity, as a first wave of persecutions occurred ten years earlier. But the echo it found in Asia, America and Europe, was unparalleled. This article aims to account for Franciscan success in giving worldwide publicity to what could otherwise be seen as a local event of limited consequence. The martyrdom of 1597 finds it roots in a context of tensions between Christians and Buddhists, who formed an overwhelming majority in Japan. However, the persecutions had more to do with the suppression of troubles than with theological considerations. But this political aspect is hardly apparent in Franciscan sources, which were mostly concerned with describing the martyrdom. From the start, the Franciscans were keen to actively circulate witnesses’ accounts of the martyrdom in Mexico and in Europe. What also helped the event achieve worldwide publicity was that the Franciscans blamed the Jesuits for the outbreak of persecutions. The martyrdom indeed became the object of a dispute between religious orders, but with political ramifications, as the Spanish in the Philippines supported the Franciscans while the Jesuits were closely dependent on the Portuguese in Macao.
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Matsumoto, N. "T. Hosaka: The Early Persecutions of Jews and Christians in the Roman Empire." THEOLOGICAL STUDIES IN JAPAN, no. 43 (2004): 159–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.5873/nihonnoshingaku.2004.159.
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FINCH, ANDREW. "The Pursuit of Martyrdom in the Catholic Church in Korea before 1866." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 60, no. 1 (January 2009): 95–118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022046907002448.
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The first century of the Catholic Church in Korea was characterised by recurrent and often severe persecutions. Consequently a cult of martyrs developed from early in the Church's history. Wider Catholic concepts relating to martyrdom and spirituality, in particular belief in a corrupting world and the significance of martyrdom in offering a means of release, set individuals on the path of martyrdom. They were then informed and encouraged by the development of the cult itself, and the solidarity and support of the Christian community. However, Korean Christians also carried with them Confucian and Buddhist concepts concerning the nature of virtue, asceticism, world-renunciation and self-sacrifice, and they subscribed to a set of social values which saw kinship ties and posthumous reputation as paramount. In the area of martyrdom these indigenous concepts and values complemented and reinforced those derived from Catholicism.
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Mazor, Amir. "Jewish Court Physicians in the Mamluk Sultanate during the First Half of the 8th/14th Century." Medieval Encounters 20, no. 1 (February 17, 2014): 38–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700674-12342156.
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Abstract It is usually accepted among modern scholars that the Mamluk period marked a drastic decline in the position of non-Muslims. Jews and Christians were exposed to increasing persecutions and, inter alia, could not serve as great physicians unless they converted to Islam. Against these assumptions, the article discusses new data regarding three Jewish court physicians from the first half of the 8th/14th century. Despite being under a strong pressure to convert, these doctors gained honorable positions and a high social status in the Mamluk sultanate. As erudite physicians and skillful practitioners, they were integrated with the highest circles of the political, military and especially intellectual Muslim elite of their time.
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Lev, Yaacov. "The Fatimid Caliphs, the Copts, and the Coptic Church." Medieval Encounters 21, no. 4-5 (December 1, 2015): 390–410. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700674-12342203.
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This paper examines the complex relations between the Fatimid rulers and their Coptic subjects, focusing on state policies and the situation in the Delta. In spite of al-Ḥākim’s persecutions of non-Muslims, Fatimid policies toward Christians and Jews can be described as non-prejudicial and surprisingly tolerant. Whether these were driven by practical considerations or Ismāʿīlī ideological underpinnings remains vague. In any case, state policies were not responsible for the Islamization of the Delta during the Fatimid period. This process was a by-product, so to speak, of the civil war of the 1060s and early 1070s and must also be examined in light of pre-Fatimid realities in the region.
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Frend, William H. C. "Martyrdom in East and West: The Saga of St George of Nobatia and England." Studies in Church History 30 (1993): 47–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400011591.
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Martyrs were the heroes of the Early Church. For a long period after the reign of Constantine until Benedictine monasticism took over their mantle, their lives and exploits provided a focus for the idealism of Christians in Western Europe. They represented the victory of human steadfastness and loyalty in defence of the faith triumphing over irreligious tyranny and the powers of evil. In the East, however, where Constantine had emphasized as early as 324 his complete rejection of the persecutions of his pagan predecessors, it was not long before memories of the past were transformed to meet other pressing needs of the day. Threatened first by Germanic and Slav invaders and then by the armies of Islam, Byzantine cities sought the protection of martyrs and the heavenly hierarchy that led from them through the Archangel Michael to the Virgin herself. In Nobatia, the northernmost of the three Nubian kingdoms that straddled the Nile valley between Aswan and a point south of Khartoum, the military martyrs, George, Mercurius, Theodore, and Demetrius seconded the endeavours of Michael and the Virgin to preserve the kingdoms and their Christian religion.
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Atuahene, Daniel. "The status of the Church in Africa." Review & Expositor 115, no. 2 (May 2018): 182–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0034637318759029.
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The Church in Africa is currently experiencing a surge in numerical growth, consequently making Christianity the leading religion in the continent. Just before the twentieth century, Africa was known to be a heartland of voodooist, witchcraft, and traditional religions. The continent is now emerging as the “center of gravity of Christianity.” Research predicts Africa to have the largest majority of Christian population by 2060, with four in ten Christians living in the region. Despite tremendous growth, however, the Church in Africa still lacks the influence and impact one would expect it to have. Poverty and hunger are still rampant, especially in the Sub-Saharan area, where children are malnourished and deprived. Although the cornerstone of Christianity is love, one would expect that the growth of the Church would affect the socio-economic state of Africa. Sadly, the current statistics show otherwise. Notable, too, is the contribution of missionaries to the global missionary effort, which is only 6%. Amid numerical growth, the African Church still faces major challenges, including but not limited to persecutions in certain regions by some governments and extremist groups, the lack of “African identity,” and low enthusiasm to participate in political leadership and community development.
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SOARES, CAROLLINE DA SILVA. "O Gênero Epistolar na Antiguidade: a importância das Cartas de Cipriano para a História do Cristianismo Norte Africano (século III d.C.) * The Epistolary Genre in Antiquity: the importance of Letters of Cyprian for North African History of Christianity..." História e Cultura 2, no. 3 (January 31, 2014): 199. http://dx.doi.org/10.18223/hiscult.v2i3.1104.
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<p><strong>Resumo: </strong>Ao nos debruçarmos nos estudos acerca do cristianismo antigo percebemos que algumas análises ainda se pautam numa leitura teológica e doutrinal e tendem a deixar de lado os aspectos político-administrativos e disciplinares da organização das comunidades cristãs, bem como o cotidiano dos cristãos nas <em>ciuitates</em> greco-romanas. As epístolas de Cipriano, bispo de Cartago entre os anos 249 e 258, nos dão importantes informações acerca da constituição das comunidades cristãs africanas e do cotidiano dos cristãos cartagineses de meados do século III d. C., sobretudo durante o período das perseguições dos imperadores Décio e Valeriano. Nosso objetivo nesse artigo é discutir as informações contidas nas epístolas de Cipriano como fontes primordiais para a percepção do processo de desenvolvimento do cristianismo no norte da África, especificamente na cidade de Cartago durante o século III, momento no qual a crença cristã ainda é considerada uma <em>religio illicita</em>.</p><p><strong>Palavras-chave: </strong>Cristianismo – Cipriano – Cartas – Cristãos – Norte da África.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Abstract: </strong>By examining studies about ancient Christianity we realize that some analyzes are still in a guided reading theological and doctrinal, and tend to leave out the political and administrative aspects of the organization and discipline of the Christian communities, as well as the daily life of Christians at <em>ciuitates </em>Greco- Roman. The Epistles of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage between the years 249 and 258 , provides important information about the formation of the African Christian communities and the daily lives of Christians Carthaginians from the mid- third century A.D., especially during the period of the persecutions of the emperors Decius and Valerian. Our goal in this article is to argue the information contained in the epistles of Cyprian as main sources for the perception of the development of Christianity in North Africa, specifically in the city of Carthage during the third century, at which Christian belief is yet considered a <em>religio illicita.</em></p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Christianity – Cyprian – Letters – Christians – North Africa.</p>
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Brettler, Marc, and Amy-Jill Levine. "Isaiah’s Suffering Servant: Before and After Christianity." Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 73, no. 2 (March 10, 2019): 158–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0020964318820594.
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The so-called “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah 52:15–53:12 takes on new meaning in each of his settings, from the exilic or early post-exilic community of Deutero-Isaiah, to the repurposing of this figure by the author of Daniel, mid-second century BCE during the persecutions of Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, through the numerous New Testament citations of and allusions to Jesus as fulfilling Isaiah’s predictions concerning this servant, and on to several post-biblical Jewish understandings of this enigmatic figure. In showing how and why the servant receives such numerous readings, we demonstrate both how readers across the centuries and within different traditions understand Isaiah through their own circumstances, and why Jews and Christians should respect each other’s readings rather than attempt to “prove” the truth of one tradition on the basis of a specific understanding of prophecy.
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Bralewski, Sławomir. "Was Constantine the Great Aware of the Constantinian Shift?" Studia Ceranea 9 (December 30, 2019): 157–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.09.09.
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In this article, I try to answer the following question: was Constantine himself aware of the revolution that he was carrying out? Did he realise that his actions were going to change the course of the history of the Empire? An analysis of sources seems to indicate that emperor Constantine the Great saw in his reign a fundamental change not only in the history of the Imperium Romanum, but also of the entire world. He believed that this change had an eschatological dimension. Constantine’s reign, at least in its propagandist framing, was to be the turning point in the fight against evil. It appears that the ruler was fully aware that by putting an end to the persecutions of Christians he was restoring universal peace. Thus, the shift with which he is associated amounted, on the one hand, to restoring the pax Christiana and the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth, and on the other to eliminating evil from the world. Therefore, Constantine, in believing that he had become God’s tool for fighting evil, must have also been convinced that he played an incredibly important role in God’s plan of salvation; especially since the Kingdom of God, apparently realised on earth through Constantine’s military victories, was to only finally prevail when evil and death had been defeated forever.
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Drake, H. A. "Constantine and Consensus." Church History 64, no. 1 (March 1995): 1–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3168653.
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The church historian Socrates Scholasticus tells a story about an encounter during the Council of Nicaea between the emperor Constantine and the schismatic bishop Acesius. On learning that Acesius's dispute had nothing to do with the Creed or the date of Easter—the two major issues under debate at that Council—Constantine asked, “For what reason then do you separate yourself from communion with the rest of the Church?” Acesius replied that his sect objected to the relative leniency with which other Christians had treated those who had cracked under the empire-wide persecutions of the third century. He then “referred to the rigidness of that austere canon which declares, that it is not right that persons who after baptism have committed a sin, which the sacred Scriptures denominate ‘a sin unto death’ be considered worthy of participation in the sacraments.” Whereupon, Socrates continues, the emperor said to him, “Place a ladder, Acesius, and climb alone into heaven.”
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Touber, Jetze. "Patristic Scholarship and Religious Contention, 1678–1716." Church History and Religious Culture 96, no. 3 (2016): 266–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/18712428-09603046.
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Lactantius’s treatise De mortibus persecutorum, which celebrates the end of the persecutions of Christians in the Roman empire, was lost for six centuries. Its discovery in 1678 was a European event which set the sophisticated machinery of information exchange in the republic of letters in motion. Scholars joined forces in expounding the historical significance of the patristic text. However, this collective enterprise was also bound up with theological-political interests. Editors and commentators were all affected by affairs of state and ecclesiastical policy, which conditioned their engagement with the treatise. This article reviews the editorial history of De mortibus persecutorum, during the three decades in which it attracted scholarly attention, and it highlights the specific interests of the scholars involved. The focus will be on Gijsbert Cuper (1644–1716), often depicted as an exemplary member of the republic of letters. His paper legacy allows us to recover the theological-political concerns which informed his investigations.
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Boutros, Jules. "Promoting the Constants of the Mission with Muslims in Today’s Middle East." Journal of Catholic Social Thought 18, no. 1 (2021): 139–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/jcathsoc20211818.
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One of the most important facts that the Second Vatican Council has revealed is that the point of the Church is not itself, but to go beyond itself, to be a community that preaches, serves, celebrates, and witnesses to the reign of God with due respect to the text and context. During the past century, the Church of the Middle East experienced the absence of an authentic missionary enthusiasm and the lack of a clear and pertinent theology with which it could face the challenge presented to Christianity by Islam. This challenge resides in its special role and mission before the Muslims, which this paper will further discuss and, in doing so, answer the question, How can the Church of the Middle East try to approach the Muslims in a time of violent Islamic fundamentalism and persecutions, in a region where most of the Christians are opting to remain distant or to emigrate?
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Верланов, Д. С. "“The Golden Age of Patristics”: Hellenophonic Patristic Discourse in the 4th–6th Centuries." Grani 22, no. 6 (August 28, 2019): 22–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.15421/171960.
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In the early 4th century the Roman Empire suffered a number of important socio-political changes. TheEdict of Milan (313), having recognised in full the existence of the Church and its rights for worship, declaredreligions toleration, and put the end to the era of persecutions, but at the same time actualised and reinforced thestruggle of ideas between Christians and pagans. This controversy between Christians and pagans contributedimmensely to process of the becoming of Christian intellectual culture. In order to answer the most burningquestions and challenges of the time, the fathers of the Church deepened understanding and interpretation ofthe message of the Bible, created a large moral and ascetic literature, designed the dogmatic system. The mainpurpose of the present study is to specify the origins and main directions of patristic thought. In order to dothis I examine how fathers of the Church solve complex philosophical and theological issues, focusing on theepistemic aspect of the issue.According to the patristic tradition, the first step to acquire the true knowledge is to cleanse the self fromevery impurity of sin and passions. It is attained through keeping God’s commandments and maintaining asceticefforts. The sign of correct spiritual growth is a specific ability to penetrate into nature of things, which thefathers call “διάκρισις”. The fathers of the Church and Christian writers of the epoch recognise this ability asa religio-intuitive. One who receives this gift of divine grace becomes able of self-knowledge, distinguishingbetween good and evil, and understanding of the will of God. A Christian who possesses it becomes fully awareof personal spiritual condition, and as a result becomes capable to make the right choice of the way of salvation.There are two sources of the knowledge of God: natural (from the experience of being into the world) andsupernatural (divine revelation). The cognitive process therefore has two major aspects: sensual and speculative.The senses allow knowing God from his creation, as the mind or intellect enables man to contemplating ofincorporeal. The latter aspect enables one to self-knowledge or introspection and contemplation of the mind orsoul, which has been created in the image and likeness of God.The clarification of the Hellenophonic patristic discourse in 4th–6th centuries, on a large scale, allowsreconstructing another important phenomenon of this period, known as the “Golden Age” of Patristics.
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Markovic, Miodrag. "The cult of St. Vitus among the Serbs in the middle ages." Zograf, no. 31 (2006): 35–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/zog0731035m.
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Vitus, a native of Sicily, who was martyred during the emperor Diocletian's persecutions, is not well known among Orthodox Christians. However, his feast day, which is celebrated on June 15th, occupies an extremely important place in the minds of the Serbian people, as Vidovdan. At the end of the 19th century, Jovan Vuckovic, a learned priest, concluded that, for the Serbs, the significance of the feast of St. Vitus does not lie in any particular reverence for St. Vitus himself, but in the fact that the Battle of Kosovo took place on his feast day. Nevertheless, there are reliable testimonies that the Serbs did revere this martyr from Sicily, in the Middle Ages. The earliest is to be found in the menologion in the Miroslav Gospel, and St. Vitus is also recorded in hagiographic sources that appeared after the establishment of the autocephalous Serbian Church. We find the most frequent mention of him in the manuscript synaxaria of the so-called First recession of the Menologue of Basil II (from 13th and 14th centuries), and several 14th century menaions contain an akolouthia dedicated to St. Vitus.
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SCHIRRMACHER, THOMAS. "Persecution of Christians Today." Unio Cum Christo 1, no. 1 (October 1, 2015): 127. http://dx.doi.org/10.35285/ucc1.1-2.2015.art12.
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Abstract: The majority of Christians live in a situation of religious freedom in democracies. Has Christianity become a major focus of persecution? Yes, approximately 10% of them live as minorities in an ever growing hostile environment. By exploring ten factors behind the persecution of Christians, the article shows that persecution is a complex phenomenon. The article discusses the major reasons for persecution of Christians and sees religious fundamentalism—defined as a militant truth claim—in the major world religions of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, as the major reason for the growing number of Christians being killed and churches being destroyed. The four other reasons are religious nationalism, the displacement from Islamic countries of long-established Christian churches, limitations on freedom of religion, and the special price paid by converts from Islam and Hinduism. A take away from this article is that while individual Christians ought not to retaliate, Christians around the world should hold governments in which persecution occurs accountable.
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Adamiak, Stanisław. "Kontynuacja przymusu państwowego w sprawach religijnych w Afryce Północnej." Vox Patrum 64 (December 16, 2015): 69–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.31743/vp.3704.
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The paper aims at showing the continuity of the methods and motivations of the religious persecutions in Roman North Africa between IV and VII century. Different examples are briefly analysed: anti-Christian persecutions of the first centuries, the struggle between the Catholics and the Donatists, the persecution of the Catholics by the Vandals and the religious coercion exercised against Jews and dissidents under Byzantine dominion. The continuity can be found not only in the means employed by the oppressors and their justification, but also in the description of the situation produced by the victims.
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Chibnall, Marjorie. "A twelfth-century view of the historical church: Orderic Vitalis." Studies in Church History 33 (1997): 115–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400013218.
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When Eusebius set out to write an Ecclesiastical History he claimed to be ‘the first to undertake this present project and to attempt, as it were, to travel along a lonely and untrodden path’. The claim was justified: there had been little room for religious history, even the history of pagan religions, in the works of classical historians and their imitators. Following the rules laid down by Thucydides, they concentrated on the political life of the present and its military consequences; they preferred oral to written sources, provided the historian had either been present at the scene of action or had heard reports from eyewitnesses. Both in method and in content Eusebius was an innovator. Since his starting point was ‘the beginning of the dispensation of Jesus’ he was entirely dependent on written sources for more than three hundred years; and, innovating still more, he introduced documents such as letters and imperial edicts into his narrative. Far from being political and military, his subject matter was primarily the history of the apostles, the succession of bishops, the persecutions of Christians, and the views of heretics. He was widening the scope of historical writing and using the techniques previously employed in the biographies of philosophers. It is not surprising that, once his work had been translated into Latin and extended by Rufinus and Jerome, it became the starting point for writers on ecclesiastical history for generations to come.
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Chen, Xue. "“THE SUN OF THE DEAD” BY I.S. SHMELEV: SPATIAL SYMBOLS OF THE PICTURE OF BEING." Bulletin of Udmurt University. Series History and Philology 31, no. 2 (May 11, 2021): 330–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.35634/2412-9534-2021-31-2-330-334.
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The article analyzes the key spatial images of the story by I.S. Shmelev "The Sun of the Dead." Their role in describing a specific landscape and expression of the author's worldview is indicated. Shmelev gives volume and ambiguity to the landscape, which appears in the story not only as a topos, a plot element, but also an image of cultural, psychological, religious intentions. The conclusion is drawn about the realism and mythologization of nature paintings, their symbolic meanings are decoded, structuring the vertical and horizontal space of the text and expressing the sensory, behavioral modalities of the characters. A connection is established between the artistic, spiritual space of man and the physical-geographical one. It is traced how through the ontologization of the images of nature Shmelev expresses his view on the Crimean realities of the early 1920s. The Old Testament and New Testament allusions in the image of the landscape are described, their role in translating the narrative of modern events into the plane of biblical history is determined. It has been suggested that the text deliberately introduces allusions to famous stories about Lot, persecutions of Christians, Egyptian executions, apocalyptic prophecies, symbols of the Lord, motives of His anger, apostolic judgments and others. Through images of space Shmelev combines existential motifs of the story and eschatological, mortal and life-affirming. The main compositional principle of the image of space is opposition. The works of I. Babel, I. Knorring, N. Turoverova, M. Tsvetaeva, A. Shiryaevets are attracted.
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Jońca, Maciej. "IIS QUI AD ME TAMQUAM CHRISTIANI DEFEREBANTUR, HUNC SUM SECUTUS MODUM. ŚRODKI DOWODOWE ZASTOSOWANE W PROCESIE CHRZEŚCIJAN PONTYJSKICH W RELACJI PLINIUSZA MŁODSZEGO (EP. 10,96)." Zeszyty Prawnicze 5, no. 2 (June 14, 2017): 99. http://dx.doi.org/10.21697/zp.2005.5.2.05.
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<In>iis quiad me tamquam christiani deferebantur, hunc sum secutus modum. Evidence Applied in the Persecution of Pontian Christians According to Pliny the Younger (Ep. 10,96)SummaryIn 1st and 2nd centuries A. D. Christians were occasionally persecuted and punished just for being Christians (nomen christianurn). The letter drafted by Pliny the Younger to emperor Trajan constitutes the most significant non-Christian source providing information on the procedures applied in these circumstances. Pliny mentions three groups of people that emerged due to the presented above activities: the Christians, who did not renounce their faith at court, falsely accused pagans and apostates. A governor asked those who refused to abandon their faith before executing them. The execution did not apply to Roman citizens who, according to law, were sent to Rome. Apostates and pagans underwent special tests. In order to prove that they were not Christians the governor made them call the names of gods and perform sacrifices before the image of the emperor and gods, which was followed by the course on Christ. However, it was not a refusal to participate in the rituals that led to a punishment but their attachment to Christian community. Therefore, a ceremony of purely religious nature became a real proof applied in judicial proceedings. Although the emperor expressed his approval for governor’s measures, he did not establish any general rule concerning the prosecution and punishments of Christians.
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Slater, Thomas B. "On the Social Setting of the Revelation to John." New Testament Studies 44, no. 2 (April 1998): 232–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0028688500016490.
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Revisionists have argued that no empire-wide persecution of Christians occurred in the late first century and that Domitian was neither a persecutor of Christians nor an evil, incompetent ruler. This essay agrees with those points but also argues that a closer examination of extant Roman and Christian late first/early second century writers demonstrates that Christians were held in low esteem and suffered in Roman society because of their religious convictions. This study argues that Revelation was a Christian response to religio-political pressures by indigenous Asian pagans upon Christians to conform to traditional social practices in Roman Asia.
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Classen, Albrecht. "William Chester Jordan, The Apple of His Eye: Converts from Islam in the Reign of Louis IX. Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World. Princeton, NJ, and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2019, xiii, 177 pp." Mediaevistik 32, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 412–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.3726/med.2019.01.92.
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Throughout history, migrants have crossed borders and looked for a new home in new countries, which has always constituted problems, challenges, and difficulties. Some migrants come on their own volition, fleeing violence and persecutions in <?page nr="413"?>their home countries, others are invited in for economic, political or religious reasons. This phenomenon is not simply a modern one, but can also be identified in the Middle Ages. William Chester Jordan here offers a fascinating look into Muslim converts who were brought by the French King Louis IX from Acre to France and were settled in many different towns in northern France, that is, far away from the southern parts where there might have been the danger that the new converts might flee and return home again. After all, as the documentation illustrates impressively, for people of Arabic descent, who had lived their whole life in the eastern Mediterranean and were not used to the harsh climate, the different kind of food, and the at times probably hostile social environment. Having available this data could ultimately help us today to understand analogies to modern situations, and build direct bridges between the past events and modern conditions.
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Granger Cook, John. "Chrestiani, Christiani, Χριστιανοί: a Second Century Anachronism?" Vigiliae Christianae 74, no. 3 (June 2, 2020): 237–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700720-12341410.
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Abstract Brent D. Shaw has questioned the historicity of the Neronian persecution based on two arguments from silence: Tacitus’s use of the term “Christians” is an anachronism; and Suetonius knows of no connection between the fire in Rome and Nero’s police actions against the Christians. Both of these untestable arguments from silence are inherently weak logically. One can make a good case for the claim that Chrestianus, Christianus, and Χριστιανός are not creations of the second century and that Roman officials were probably aware of the Chrestiani in the 60s. Tacitus’s and Suetonius’s accounts of the persecution are fundamentally reliable.
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Raheb, Tala. "Christian Agency and Lutheran Personal Status Laws in Palestine." Exchange 49, no. 3-4 (November 9, 2020): 278–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1572543x-12341570.
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Abstract In describing Christianity in the Middle East, scholars often highlight religious oppression, especially in relation to the larger Islamic context. Such contentious descriptions often cast Christians in the role of dhimmis, who are tolerated but not regarded as equal members of Muslim societies. Only in recent years some scholars have begun to modify their depictions of Christians and Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle East. While Christians in the Middle East have experienced and in certain regions continue to experience persecution, solely portraying them as victims does not do justice to the reality on the ground. By means of a case study on Palestine, I argue that an examination of the interaction between sharia (Islamic law) and Christian personal status laws sheds a different light on Christian identity and Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle East, and demonstrates the agency of Palestinian Christian communities in this respect.
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Cisło, Waldemar. "Persecution of Christians." Person and the Challenges. The Journal of Theology, Education, Canon Law and Social Studies Inspired by Pope John Paul II 11, no. 2 (December 31, 2020): 145. http://dx.doi.org/10.15633/pch.3755.
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Blaich, Roland. "A Tale of Two Leaders: German Methodists and the Nazi State." Church History 70, no. 2 (June 2001): 199–225. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3654450.
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Nazi foreign policy was hampered from the start by a hostile foreign press that carried alarming reports, not only of atrocities and persecution of the political opposition and of Jews, but also of a persecution of Christians in Germany. Protestant Christians abroad were increasingly outraged by the so-called “German Christians” who, with the support of the government, gained control of the administration of the Evangelical state churches and set about to fashion a centralized Nazi church based on principles of race, blood, and soil. The militant attack by “German Christians” on Christian, as opposed to Germanic, traditions and values led to the birth of a Confessing Church, whose leaders fought to remain true to the Gospel, often at the risk of imprisonment. Such persecution resulted in calls from abroad for boycott and intervention, particularly in Britain and the United States, and threatened to complicate foreign relations for the Nazi regime at a time when Hitler was still highly vulnerable. In order to win the support of the German people and to consolidate the Nazi grip on German society, Hitler needed accomplishments in foreign policy and solutions to the German economic crisis. Both were possible only with the indulgence of foreign powers.
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Zgraja, Brunon. "Symbolika księżyca w Enarrationes in psalmos św. Augustyna." Vox Patrum 69 (December 16, 2018): 735–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.31743/vp.3284.
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The present article proves that Augustine, explaining in Enarrationes in Psalmos the texts of Psalms, does not treat references occurig in them, to the moon merely as a part of the descriptions of beauty of the created world, but tries to perceive in it a hidden meaning, the disclosure of which serves the interpreation of different theological questions. For the bishop of Hippo, the moon is a metaphor of God the Creator, of Christ, of the Church and of the human being. With reference to God the Creator, the moon is to remind Christians, that God creating everything as being good and beautiful, He himself is the Good and the Beauty. Furthermore, the motive of the moon is to point to God’s self-sufficiency, his freedom and independence. The moon as metaphor of Christ, in turn, allows to perceive in Him the true God who, through the event of Incarnation, revealed to the human being the eternal plan of salvation. The ecclesiological dimension of the symbolism of the moon, however, introduces the concept of the beginnings of the Church, points out to its persecutions and to the presence of sinful people in it. What’s more, the moon-Church is the mystical Body of Christ and Christi s its Head. It is, furthermore, a Glorious Church that will be reigning with Christ for ever. Through the antropological dimension of the figure of the moon, Augustine exposes to the listeners of his sermons the truth about human fragility, corporality and mortality, moral inconstancy and a necessity for gaining more and more perfection with the suport of the Holy Spirit. The moon is salso to direct the human thinking at the truth of resurrection.
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Weinberg, Ewa. "Niezapomniany rok 1942." Studia Litteraria et Historica, no. 2 (June 30, 2014): 573–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.11649/slh.2013.024.
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The unforgotten 1942 Ewa Weinberg relates her story of the deportations of Polish citizens to the USSR in the summer of 1940 and their life in 1942. After the Sikorski-Majski Pact had been signed and Anders‘s Army established, the deportees tried to leave Siberia for Samarkand, Uzbekistan. In Samarkand, it turned out that the category of citizenship is no more valid for the deportees: anti-Semitic acts were very common, but the persecutions were also applied to non-Roman Catholic Christians. Such behaviour was legitimate from the point of view of the majority and their model of society. When trying to get onto the train to Tehran, Weinberg’s friends and relatives (members of the Polish intelligentsia) heard a question: “You’re a nation of merchants and you do not even have a golden ring?”. In consequence, some of the cars left empty, having left stranded some Polish citizens categorised as gudłaje i kacapy (contemptuously: Jews and Russians). Niezapomniany rok 1942Świadectwo Ewy Weinberg dotyczy wywózki obywateli polskich do ZSRR latem 1940 roku i przeżyć roku 1942. Po zawarciu paktu Sikorski-Majski 31 lipca 1941 roku, na wieść o tworzeniu armii gen. Władysława Andersa deportowani przedostają się z Syberii do Samarkandy w Uzbekistanie (ZSRR). Na miejscu okazuje się, że we wspólnocie uchodźców nie obowiązuje kategoria obywatelstwa. Autorka opisuje praktyki antysemickie, a także dyskryminację chrześcijan innych niż rzymscy katolicy, jako zjawisko systemowe i prawomocne z punktu widzenia większościowego modelu kultury polskiej. Bliscy i znajomi autorki, inteligencja polska, przy próbie zajęcia miejsca w pociągu do Teheranu słyszą pytanie: „Taki naród handlowy, a nie ma bodaj obrączek?”. W efekcie część wagonów odjeżdża pusta, pozostawiając na pastwę klimatu, głodu, chorób i terroru stalinowskiego obywateli polskich zakwalifikowanych jako „gudłaje i kacapy”.
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Teitler, H. C. "Ammianus, Libanius, Chrysostomus, and the Martyrs of Antioch." Vigiliae Christianae 67, no. 3 (2013): 263–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700720-12341129.
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Abstract Christian sources name several dozen Christian martyrs under Julian the Apostate. Six of these martyrs were according to such sources executed in Antioch during Julian’s stay in this city in 362-363 A.D. Pagan authors like Ammianus Marcellinus and Libanius are silent about their martyrdom, and about the persecution of Christians by Julian in general. It is examined in this article whether the Christian authors, among them John Chrysostom, represent historical reality more than Ammianus and Libanius do, and whether their writings can be adduced to prove that Julian was a persecutor.
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Vaucher, Daniel. "Glaubensbekenntnis oder Sklavengehorsam?—Petrus von Alexandrien zu einem christlichen Dilemma." Vigiliae Christianae 72, no. 5 (October 29, 2018): 533–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700720-12341361.
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Abstract The so-called Canonical letter (or περὶ Μετανοίας, “On Repentance”) of St. Peter of Alexandria, sheds light on a variety of means that Christians chose to avoid the sacrifice test under the Diocletian persecution. Canons 5-7 deal explicitly with slave- owners using their slaves as surrogates. St. Peter condemns these practices heavily, while at the same time he condemns servile obedience. In this, Peter is almost alone in early Christianity, when almost all Christians preached blind obedience. The article examines these canons, and contextualizes them with other Christian perceptions of ancient slavery. At the same time, the letter is important for the understanding of the Great persecution, its mechanisms, and the personal situation of St. Peter. Hence, the letter is discussed in regards to its transmission, and its context.
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Kokoszko, Maciej. "Orygenes fizjonomistą? Kilka uwag na temat "Przeciw Celsusowi" I 33." Vox Patrum 40 (March 15, 2002): 173–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.31743/vp.7977.
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Origen is one of the most eminent Christian intellectuals of all times. Bom between 185 and 186 AD, died between 254 and 255 AD. He lived trough a period of alternate persecution and relative religious freedom to the Christians. A well-educated teacher and an exegete of the Holy Scriptures, he finally became one of the most influential figures in the Church.
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Melanchthon, Monica. "Persecution of Indian Christians." Dialog 41, no. 2 (January 2002): 103–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1540-6385.00106.
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Lobo, Lancy. "Persecution of Indian Christians." Dialog 41, no. 2 (January 2002): 114–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1540-6385.00107.
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Shin, Junhyoung Michael. "Avalokiteśvara's Manifestation as the Virgin Mary: The Jesuit Adaptation and the Visual Conflation in Japanese Catholicism after 1614." Church History 80, no. 1 (March 2011): 1–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0009640710001575.
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Since St. Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima in 1549, the Jesuit mission in Japan had achieved an amazing number of conversions, even though their activity lasted for merely about fifty years. Their great success came to an abrupt end in 1614 when the Bakufu government began the full proscription and persecution of the religion. An earlier ruler, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, had already banned Christianity and ordered the expulsion of foreign missionaries in 1587, but without strict enforcement. Since the 1630s, the former Christians were required to enroll in local Buddhist temples and annually go through the practice of treading on Christian icons in order to prove their apostasy. However, many Christians secretly retained the faith by disguising their true religious identity with Buddhist paraphernalia. These so-called “underground” (or sempuku) Christians survived more than two hundred years of persecution, and today some groups still continue to practice their own religion, refusing to join the Catholic Church. The present-day religion of the latter, called “hidden” (or kakure) Christians to distinguish them from the former, has drawn the attention of ample anthropological as well as religious studies.
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Killingray, David. "‘To Suffer Grief in All Kinds of Trials’: Persecution and Martyrdom in the African Church in the Twentieth Century." Studies in Church History 30 (1993): 465–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400011888.
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There is a good case for regarding the twentieth century as the century of Christian persecution and martyrdom. Both individual Christians, as well as the Church as a whole, have suffered severely at the hands of authoritarian regimes in Europe and Asia and also from institutional and state hostility in all but a few areas of the world. The Church has invariably been divided and split in its reactions to these pressures. This paper focuses upon the experience of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa where the Church has grown very rapidly in size and significance this century, most notably since the 1940s.
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Granger Cook, John. "Porphyry's Attempted Demolition of Christian Allegory." International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 2, no. 1 (2008): 1–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187254708x282259.
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AbstractPorphyry wrote the Contra Christianos during the time of the persecutions, and later several Christian rulers consigned it to the flames. In that work Porphyry included a penetrating critique of Christian allegory. Parts of his argument reappeared in the Protestant Reformers and subsequently in modern biblical research. Scholarship on Porphyry's text often is dominated by the historical problems that beset the fragment. Such problems can be temporarily put aside to carefully study the key terms in Porphyry's argument. The net gain of such an approach is to understand the power of the argument and its structure in a clearer light.