Elizabeth A. Castelli explores the central role of persecution in the
early development of Christian ideas, institutions, and cultural forms
and shows how the legacy of Christian martyrdom plays out in today's
world. Martyrs are produced, Castelli suggests, not by the lived
experience of particular historical individuals but by the stories that
are later told about them. Using Maurice Halbwachs's theoretical
framework of collective memory and drawing on a wide range of Christian
sources, Castelli approaches the writings of early Christians and their
public and ideologically potent accounts of martyrdom. In their words,
the martyr's story becomes a "usable past," a "living tradition" for
Christian communities, and an especially effective vehicle for
transmitting ideas about gender, power, and sanctity.
In the wake of the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School, modern
"martyr cults" have emerged as the unlikely legacy of early Christian
martyrdom. Focusing specifically on the martyr cult associated with one
of the tragedy's victims, Castelli looks at how the Columbine story
renders suffering redemptive and meaningful and the way in which
"religion" has made a return to center stage in our culture, with the
martyr as its most contentious yet riveting star.