Persecution of Christians in The Roman Empire - Persecution As A Central Theme in Christianity

Persecution As A Central Theme in Christianity

Elizabeth Castelli asserts that "Christianity itself is founded upon an archetype of religio-political persecution, the execution of Jesus by the Romans." She points out that " the earliest Christians routinely equated Christian identity with suffering persecution" as attested by numerous passages in the New Testament. As examples, she cites the passage in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account". As another example, she cites the passage in the Gospel of John where Jesus warns his disciples with these words: "Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you" (John 15.20).

Michael Gaddis writes:

The Christian experience of violence during the pagan persecutions shaped the ideologies and practices that drove further religious conflicts over the course of the fourth and fifth centuries... The formative experience of martyrdom and persecution determined the ways in which later Christians would both use and experience violence under the Christian empire. Discourses of martyrdom and persecution formed the symbolic language through which Christians represented, justified, or denounced the use of violence."

Gaddis further argues that the advent of monotheistic religion introduced the concept of a cosmic battle between good and evil amongst zealots that engendered a persecution complex inspiring martyrdom. Robin Lane Fox writes:

A religion of compromise would not, however, have been a Christian religion. Behind every martyrdom, wether or not the texts chose to dwell on it, lay the self-sacrifice of Jesus himself. To be a Christian, baptised or not, was to recognize the supreme value of this selfless death at the hands of misguided authorities. At its heart Christianity glorified suffering and passive endurance.