Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy

by de Ste. Croix, Geoffrey; Whitby, Michael; Streeter, Joseph

• ISBN13: 9780199278121
• ISBN10: 0199278121
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This volume brings together seven seminal papers on early Christian topics by the great radical historian Geoffrey de Ste. Croix, who died in 2000. Three of these have previously been published, and are widely regarded as classic studies, while the other four appear here for the first time. All the papers have been updated in terms of bibliography and referencing, and the editors have contributed essays on the questions of Ste. Croix's contribution to the study of persecution and martyrdom and his views on toleration.

Author Biography

Geoffrey de Ste. Croix was Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at New College, Oxford from 1953 until 1977. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1972. He published Origins of the Peloponnesian War in 1972 and The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World in 1981; the latter book was translated into Spanish and Greek, and won the Isaac Deutscher Memorial prize for 1982.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xi
PERSECUTION AND MARTYRDOM	1	(252)
Introduction: de Ste. Croix on Persecution Joseph Streeter	3	(32)
Aspects of the `Great' Persecution	35	(44)
The Fourth Edict in the West and the Date of the Council of Elvira	79	(26)
Appendix: The Date of the Council of Elvira	99	(6)
Joseph Streeter
Why were the Early Christians Persecuted?	105	(48)
Voluntary Martyrdom in the Early Church	153	(48)
Heresy, Schism, and Persecution in the Later Roman Empire	201	(52)
Appendix: Religious Toleration in Classical Antiquity and Early Christianity	229	(24)
Joseph Streeter
CHURCH COUNCILS	253	(68)
Introduction	255	(4)
Michael Whitby
The Council of Chalcedon with additions	259	(62)
Michael Whitby
CHRISTIANITY AND PROPERTY	321	(52)
Introduction	323	(5)
Michael Whitby
Early Christian Attitudes to Property and Slavery	328	(45)
Index of Passages	373	(5)
Index	378