slaap zacht & droom maar zoet

Martyrdom as a discourse was shared and fought over between rabbinic Judaism and Christianity as these two complexly intertwined religions and social formations were approaching their definitive schism in Euse-bius's fourth century.

As was written of the Jewish martyrologies:
IT SEEMS THAT THE HOMILISTS HAVE COMMUNICATED TO US THE ACTS OF THE GOVERNMENT WHICH THEY SAW WITH THEIR EYES {IN THE MIDDLE OF THE THIRD CENTURY IN THE TIME OF DECIUS, AND IN THE BEGINNING OF THE FOURTH IN THE ERA OF DIOCLETIAN} WITH RESPECT TO THE CHRISTIANS, AND THEY ATTRIBUTED THEM TO THE TIME OF PERSECUTION UNDER HADRIAN AND SAID THAT THAT IS HOW THEY BEHAVED TOWARDS JEWS AS WELL!

And even others admit that the alleged martyrdom of Rabbi Akiva in the second century [is] a retrospec-tive construction of a posterior age, an age substantially later than that of the first Christian martyrdoms.

The fact that so many commentators and generations of scholars cannot for the life of them figure out whether or not a text like, say, IV Maccabees, is 'Jewish' or 'Christian' speaks volumes in itself; they have similar problems in identifying the sttus of 'Godfearers' and a host of other persons and groups of the same time; on some tombstone epitaphs of the period, even ones that recount fairly lengthy 'theological
views' (the famous Regina stone), it is also impossible to tell - there is plenty of evidence for a not in-considerable middle ground. The author should develop more of this historical background to his thesis!

This formulation is almost precisely a prospectus for the ambitions of the larger project of which is was the
first part?

Once again, the area of doubt is not as to whether the events of the martyrs' deaths were more or less as described in the texts, but the details of textualization of those deaths that are most susceptible to alter-ation as a discourse develops and is transfigured.

The comparison between 2 Maccabees & 4 Maccabees can be taken as exemplary: differences like these can best be understood as adaptations of the source material from 2 Maccabees by the author of 4 Macca-bees to adjust it to the discourse and the socio-cultural contexts of the primary readers.

Thus, for example, the martyrdom of the mother and her seven sons in 4 Maccabees, we couls propose,
was produced in the same religious atmosphere, the same (Asian?) religious environment, in which figures
such as Ignatius and Polycarp {and perhaps the Martyrs of Lyons} lived and breathed.

And if, as some confidently presume, the two stories in the books of the Maccabees have nothing to do either with the authentic history of the Maccabees or with the lost original text that recounted it, but, have
everything to do with the aspirations and literature of the early Christians, they have verything to do with the aspirations and literature of contemporary Jews, as well!

How could they not?

But this hardly constitutes an argument that Christian martyrdom had nothing to do with Judaism or with Palestine.

It had everything to do with the Greco-Roman world, its traditions, its language, and its cultural tastes.


Kortom: er is nog zoveel dat ik dolgraag wil lezen, zien, weten, ontdekken, naspeuren & vertalen, dat ik haast altijd elke dag en nacht weer tijd 'tekort kom' om alles bij te houden. Die 120 jaar oud worden of zelfs ouder is nog niet eens zo gek zolang het lichaam een beetje meewerkt & de geest 'floreert'?!

Genoeg voor vandaag I hope & pray! Het vroeg opstaan kan ik niet laten net zo min als het laat naar bed gaan? Wat mij betreft is het enige dat echt telt in ons leven de ontdekking van medemenselijkheid:
de onverbrekelijke banden tussen al wat leeft op aarde [en elders?] als plant, dier en mens, lucht, water
& de schoonheid van alles wat we meemaken & wat ons blijft aanspreken & vragen om antwoord.

Slaap zacht, droom zoet & tell us all about it if you really want to do so?!