Heirs of Roman persecution : : studies on a Christian and para-Christian discourse in late antiquity / / edited by Éric Fournier and Wendy Mayer.
"The subject of this book is the discourse of persecution used by Christians in Late Antiquity (c. 300-700 CE). Through a series of detailed case studies covering the full chronological and geographical span of the period, it investigates how the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity c...
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| Place / Publishing House: | Abingdon, Oxon ;, New York : : Routledge,, 2020. |
| Year of Publication: | 2019 2020 |
| Language: | English |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (363 pages) |
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| Summary: | "The subject of this book is the discourse of persecution used by Christians in Late Antiquity (c. 300-700 CE). Through a series of detailed case studies covering the full chronological and geographical span of the period, it investigates how the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity changed the way that Christians and para-Christians perceived the hostile treatments they received, either by fellow Christians or by people of other religions. A closely related second goal of this volume is to encourage scholars to think more precisely about the terminological difficulties related to the study of persecution. Indeed, despite sustained interest in the subject, few scholars have sought to distinguish between such closely related concepts as punishment, coercion, physical violence, and persecution. Often, these terms are used interchangeably. While there are no easy answers, an emphatic conclusion of the studies assembled in this volume is that "persecution" was a malleable rhetorical label in late antique discourse, whose meaning shifted depending on the viewpoint of the authors who used it. This leads to our third objective: to analyze the role and function played by rhetoric and polemic in late antique claims to be persecuted. Late antique Christian writers who cast their present as a repetition of past persecutions often aimed to attack the legitimacy of the dominant Christian faction through a process of othering. This discourse also expressed a polarizing worldview in order to strengthen the group identity of the writers' community in the midst of ideological conflicts and to encourage steadfastness against the temptation to collaborate with the other side"-- |
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| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 1351240692 1351240676 1351240684 |
| Hierarchical level: | Monograph |
| Statement of Responsibility: | edited by Éric Fournier and Wendy Mayer. |