This dissertation explores North Africa’s role in the development of its own religious discourse, specifically with regard to martyrdom, death, the afterlife, and other eschatological themes. Historians of early Christianity and Islam often depict the region as peripheral, but it was actually a crossroads where pre-existing traditions met new ideas to develop unique, localized versions of these religions. More often than not, these emphasized a pursuit of martyrdom and veneration of saints. This longue-durée study covers a vast timeline, spanning the pre-Christian period to the late Fatimid Caliphate. Its central focus, however, is the Donatist schism that divided North Africa in the fourth and fifth centuries. While typically portrayed as a fanatical, death-mongering sect, Donatism was a multi-faceted movement whose identity shifted with the changing times. It maintained a distinctive African character throughout with an emphasis on the teachings of Tertullian and Cyprian. Rather than accept a static definition of martyrdom, these African voices actively participated in the discourse. Using interdisciplinary methodologies that combine history with archeology, anthropology, theology, and literary analysis, this dissertation traces both the religious and social contexts of North African martyrdom. The continuity of such themes across the region’s changing cultural and religious landscapes amplifies North African voices in a field where they have often encountered silence.

This thesis examines the politics, plots and strategies of the militant presbyterian radicals of the United Societies, or later Covenanters, in their confrontation with the Restoration regime of Charles II and James VII in Scotland, and with the presbyterian movement between 1679 and 1688. Chapter one analyses the correlation between the Societies’ lay network and the pattern of militant presbyterian dissent. It outlines their core platform defined by their declarations and strict adherence to the Covenants. It discusses the formation of the United Societies out of the fragmentation of the presbyterian movement from the Bothwell debates to the creation of a coherent Cameronian platform and militant network in 1681. Chapter two analyses the Societies’ schisms, persecution and martyrdoms between 1682 and 1684 and argues that the origins of their apocalyptic war against their persecutors lay in their political isolation and persecution from both the regime and their former moderate brethren. Chapter three looks at the Societies’ embassies to England and Friesland which redefined their relationships with other presbyterians factions. It examines their role in the Rye House Plots with English Whigs and argues that they were a turning point which isolated them from the British radical underground. It also explores their contacts with the Nadere Reformatorie in the United Provinces which led to the ordination of James Renwick who hardened the Societies’ platform, and how the handling of the embassy led to the collapse of their European network. Chapter four examines the targeted persecution of the Societies in the Killing Times and the Societies’ role in the Argyll Rising of 1685 that led to further schisms over their separation from the moderate presbyterian ministry which undermined Renwick’s leadership. Chapter five traces the revival in the Societies’ fortunes to 1688. It examines the internal struggles over the Societies’ platform and the broadening of their ministerial cadre to include Alexander Shields and others; their relations with Irish presbyterian militants; their confrontation with moderate presbyterians caused by James VII’s toleration scheme; the context and impact of Renwick’s martyrdom and the reunification of the militant factions. Chapter six surveys the Societies’ world view and their attempts to construct a Calvinist international through their attitudes towards other Calvinists in the Friesland, Bremen and Switzerland, Lutheran Prussia and Sweden, Catholic France under Louis XIV and the Holy Roman Empire, and the Muslim Turks. It also compares their views of the Huguenots, Waldenses of Piedmont and Kurucs of Hungary, and the experiences of those banished to Barbados and the North American Colonies. It concludes that the Societies played a more significant and distinct role in the conflict between the presbyterian movement and the Stuart monarchy than previously thought; that their struggle and militancy were shaped by different political contexts, as demonstrated in their response to the Revolution in Scotland of 1688 to 1689, rather than simply religious conviction; and that the legacy of their martyrs, quickly subsumed into presbyterian tradition, became a justification for the Revolution settlement and a source of contention between radical and reactionary traditions.

This dissertation examines the relationship between martyrdom and divine retribution against the martyr's persecutors in the book of Revelation. The argument is made that Revelation portrays martyrdom as an impetus of Divine retribution against the persecutors of the martyrs. Chapter 1 traces the trend in recent scholarship to view Revelation's portrayal of martyrdom as contributing to the conversion of the nations. Basic assumptions of this view are discussed, as well as some replies from traditionalists. Chapter 2 discusses the methodology and sources used to defend the thesis. A discussion of intertextuality in the book of Revelation leads to the conclusion that the Old Testament, and particularly the prophetic tradition of Israel, is the primary background. The genre analysis leads the author to adopt a modified idealist approach to the symbolism of the book. Chapter 3 argues that martyrdom is the confirmation of the saints' testimony against the persecutors of the church. It is argued that the concept of witness is drawn from the background of God's legal contest with the nations in the Old Testament prophets. The climax of the witnesses' testimony is their martyrdom. Chapter 4 argues that martyrdom determines the sentence against the persecutors based on the lex talionis. The persecutors of the church seal their own fate by striking down God's faithful witnesses. The evil of persecution that leads to martyrdom is exacerbated by the identification of Christ with his witnesses. The vindication of the martyrs is also the vindication of their witness to Christ. This dissertation contends that Revelation's theology of martyrdom should not be conformed to Paul's theology of suffering, but should be understood as a complement to it. John's encouragement is not that the blood of the martyrs is seed, but that the blood of the martyrs is precious to Christ, who will avenge it in God's time. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

My dissertation presents a new reading of a rarely-studied early Christian text, the First Apocalypse of James, and seeks to intervene in major scholarly debates concerning martyrdom, scriptural interpretation and sexual difference. I begin by showing how the text exhorts its readers and hearers toward martyrdom by narrating the progress of James, the brother of Jesus, in overcoming his fear and preparing for martyrdom. Here Jesus' revelation to James sets out a ritual of ascent that constitutes the martyr's confession of faith&mdash;a previously unattested form to articulate the meaning of dying for God. I use intertextual methods to identify an interpretation of the Gospel of John in which Jesus' statements of identity in John are read as descriptions of the true nature of the perfected martyr. This analysis locates scripturally-based debates about the nature of Christ within a context in which practices of preparation for martyrdom are being devised. 1ApocJas also reads Isaiah to identify female heroes whose example it exhorts James to follow. I use this reading of 1ApocJas to challenge the notion that a strict gendered hierarchy was reinscribed equally by Christian martyrdom texts. Through comparison to select examples of Valentinian theology, I establish that 1ApocJas envisions a productive tension in the divine realms between lower and higher female divine figures. By associating female martyrs with the higher female divinities and contrasting them to the lower female divinities, 1ApocJas valorizes martyrs as female and thus complicates any straightforward masculinization of the martyrs. My reading of 1ApocJas broadens our understanding of how Christians prepared themselves for martyrdom by interpreting scripture in innovative ways, devising new ritual practices, and developing distinctive articulations of human and divine sexual difference.

Using mainly textual analysis, this thesis examines Tertullian's views of gender, baptism, and martyrdom by studying his differing reactions to the martyrs Thecla and Perpetua. Tertullian was the first write to make reference to both of these women. Considering Tertullian was the only church father to disparage Thecla, discovering the reasons behind this rejection will allow for a greater understanding of the issues that he sees as most important in his church. It will be made clear that the events in the Thecla narrative are in opposition to Tertullian's central beliefs about how he expects Christian women to behave, whereas Perpetua's actions confirm Tertullian's ideals.

Using mainly textual analysis, this thesis examines Tertullian's views of gender, baptism, and martyrdom by studying his differing reactions to the martyrs Thecla and Perpetua. Tertullian was the first write to make reference to both of these women. Considering Tertullian was the only church father to disparage Thecla, discovering the reasons behind this rejection will allow for a greater understanding of the issues that he sees as most important in his church. It will be made clear that the events in the Thecla narrative are in opposition to Tertullian's central beliefs about how he expects Christian women to behave, whereas Perpetua's actions confirm Tertullian's ideals.

Thesis (M.A.)--Cincinnati Christian University, 2008. / Includes abstract and vita. Description based on Print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-157).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of St. Andrews, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [231]-259) and index.

Thesis (M.S.) -- National Defense University, 2007. / AD-A468 858. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis identifies in the Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France (Relations), written between 1632 and 1650, a comprehensive rhetoric of total selfoffering to Jesus Christ, a rhetoric of martyrdom, rooted in their authors' particular experience of the Christian tradition, their praying with the Spiritual Exercises (1548) of Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), their encounters with the spirituality of the French Jesuit Louis Lallemant (1578-1635), and their exposure to various forms of Jesuit mission literature from around the world. Published annually, these Relations were the only consistent account of the unfolding French colonial project in Nouvelle- France, and a popular read among the noblesse, ecclesiastics, and pious Christians of the kingdom. Today they form an essential collection of primary sources that continue to provide a doorway into the earliest days of Canada's history. Identifying this rhetoric throughout the narratives, this study endeavours to provide a deeper historical understanding of these Relations by contextualising their content within the particular all-encompassing religious worldview of the authors who wrote them. The religious imaginations of these Jesuit authors, Paul Le Jeune (1591-1664), Jean de Brébeuf (1593-1649), Françoise-Joseph Le Mercier (1604-90), Barthélemy Vimont (1594-1667), Jérôme Lalemant (1593-1673), Isaac Jogues (1607-1673) and Paul Ragueneau (1608-1680), thus gives birth to a rhetoric in the Relations that presents Nouvelle-France as a land filled with Amerindian peoples who would only truly embrace Christianity if all of the missionaries lovingly offer their lives to Jesus Christ; just as He had done for the salvation of the entire world from sin and evil. They do so by placing their efforts on a metaphysical plane. There, the missionaries are presented as having been invited by God to join Christ crucified on a mission into a land filled with suffering and death. Where the Amerindians they evangelise must choose between a barbarous life of selfish material interest that is thought to imbue their traditions and a more human life of self-offering modelled on the Christian God. At the same time Satan, the devil, labours hard not to lose his grip on a part of the world that was as yet unaware of its true divine origins. The 'divine', the 'missionary', 'Satan', and the 'Amerindians', locked in this cosmic battle for souls that can only be won through a self-sacrificing union with Jesus Christ, combine to form the rhetoric of martyrdom in the narratives that reaches its summit as the authors describe the murders of eight of their fallen comrades, tortured and killed by some of the very people they had come to evangelise. This rhetoric, present throughout the narratives, has yet to be acknowledged, analysed, and interpreted by historians. In doing so, it is hoped that this study will deepen any reading of the Relations, advancing our understanding of their full import for both the early modern and the present-day reader.