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Post by fortigurn on Feb 26, 2013 1:41:43 GMT
That article sounds remarkably like the kind of articles written by Catholic apologists defending the crusades. |
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labarum
Master of the Arts
Posts: 122
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Post by labarum on Mar 8, 2013 15:01:59 GMT
What I am not clear about is whether she is stating the Christians were not persecuted at all or whether she is stating the romantic version of the persecutions where there was this three century long empire-wide pogrom of Christians was an exaggerated of a persecution that was periodic and often localized. If it be the latter, then her shocking findings are something Church historians have known for decades. If the former, then she is just plain wrong as any reading of Justin Martyr's First Apology would make clear. It would also make the setting for the Book of Revelation a bit hard to explain.
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Post by domics on Mar 11, 2013 13:41:52 GMT
Having said that, American Christians don't help themselves with their incredible persecution complex:  you should remove from 'Christian' those, as Dr Moss, who claim that there is no persecution... |
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Post by domics on Mar 11, 2013 13:49:39 GMT
the distinction between 'persecution' and 'prosecution' is very dreadful! We could apply the same distinction at today's persecutions around the world: from Afghanistan to Egypt to Nigeria persecutors of Christians always say that the reasons are political and that Christians do not respect established autorithy and that they are a threat to the society. I must add that I was hoping there was some exaggeration in the review but a quick reading of the book took me off hopes. The thesis of the book is not just that there have been exaggerations in the telling of the stories of martyrdom but ultimately also the real martyrdoms were justifiable in context of the time. I quote: Christians "were rude, subsersive, and disrespectful... the Roman were protecting the empire from the wrath of the gods and its effects...This was not blind hatred or mindless persecution. Christians posed a threat to the security of the Empire. In a world in which treason and sedition were capital offences, it makes sense that the Roman executed Christian...When Christians were executed, it was for activities that were authentically politically and socially subversive". So no religious persecution but rather a judicial restraint of a subversive force even with death penalty. In history many times someone has invoked reasons of safety and of society order for so many sad events. But I would bet that for them Dr. Moss would be less willing to find justifications. Anyway also the "authentically politically and socially subversive" activities that Dr. Moss ascribes to the Christians are not even true as Christians writings invoking a dialogue with the Emperors and the autorities clearly show, but this is another matter. Dr. Moss plays on two straw men: That there have been continuous persecution of Christians and that Christians were as she describes them. |
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Post by domics on Mar 12, 2013 12:24:06 GMT
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Post by fortigurn on Mar 12, 2013 15:37:33 GMT
As I expected, it's not quite the scholarly work I had hoped for; it's an ethnocentric polemic in a domestic political squabble. |
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