mydiagressie gevangenen gijzelaars martelaars e.d.

When it was written
IV Maccabees reflected Hellenistic Judaism
but hardly Christianity. Indeed, for the first-century
(or even second-century) milieu in which 4 Maccabees was produced,
the whole distinction could make no sense whatever, any more than the question
of whether Ya'akov or Shimon Petros
was a Jew or a Christian
could.

The
prodigious similarities
between the ethos & phraseology of the text
& Ignatius's Letter to the Romans, the Martyrium Polycarpi &
the Letter of the Martyrs of Lyons & Vienne have often been remarked.
At the same time, we must remember as well that through the third century & the early fourth,
when Christians were being persecuted and killed,
Jews generally were not.

It was most plausibly
within circles in which persecutions
were more current memories that martyrology developed,
spreading as well to other circles & subgroups of the Judeo-Christian cultural system,
including, notably the Rabbis, as a mode of interpreting their own past of persecutions & deaths
for the faith. There is, moreover, another reason why we could expect
that martyrology would develop more urgently among Christians:
the Christological impulse itself.

There is no doubt
that Ignatius conceived of his Christian duty
as "being crucified with Christ," & the example of Ignatius
was crucially formative for Polycarp,
as well!

The story of Rabbi Eli'ezer
escaping martyrdom by convincing the hegemon
that he was not Christian demonstrates rabbinic recognition of this fact,
and the earliest version of this story comes from a text edited apparently right in the midst
of the Decian/Valerianic persecutions,
or soon thereafter.

The
cultural materials
of which martyrdom was made,
however, hardly were entirely from outside
the Jewish cultural context,
both diachronic &
synchronic.

Kortom,
ik blijf erop terugkomen
omdat dit het 'centrale punt' is
van onze 'medemenselijkheid' of 't tegenovergestelde:
hoe gaan we met elkaar om als we verschillende meningen koesteren over wat dan ook?

Kunnen we er samen over praten & zodoende toch samen verderleven ondanks al die verschillen,
of gaat het weer eens voor de zoveelste keer van kwaad tot erger met agressieve escalaties, arrestaties, martelingen, executies, vernederen, ophemelen, aanbidden & verguizen
zonder enige oplossing
in zicht!

M'n hele leven
is erdoor bepaald
via al die mydibijbelverhaaltjes
over de afgelopen duizenden jaren & de laatste oorlog met
strafkamp Erika, de 'verdwaalde kogel' in de "Hongerwinter", kerkgangen & bijbellezingen,
weigering van militaire dienst in de jaren zestig v/d vorige eeuw & daarna weer in Italia {bij de Waldenzen}, in Hellas {bij de 'zigeuners'}, in Israel & Jordania bij al die diverse bevolkingsgroepen
& hun meestal sterk 'verouderende religies' tot & met 't liften & lopen
door Klein Asia {'t huidige Turkije},
Iran {"Persia"}, Afghanistan,
Pakistan & India,
Nippon &
USSR
...

Eerst
onderga je
dat alles bijna
als 'vanzelfsprekend' {wist ik
veel?} & daarna ben je 'n halve eeuw
bezig met het herkauwen van een
& ander totdat je [letterlijk
& figuurlijk] erbij neervalt
& "die pijp aan
Maarten moet
doorgeven"
...