tussen rode & groene zonnen, manen & davidssterren

't
Zal dus
wel zo zijn
dat mensen sneller
veranderen naarmate we met meer
veranderingen & verschillen
in contact
komen.

Als 'n
stam heel afgelegen
in 'n ver oerwoud of iets dergelijks voortbestaat
waar niets verandert dan blijft alles ongeveer hetzelfde zoals 't 'altijd' al was:
men wordt geboren & sterft zonder
dat merkbare 'changes'
plaatsvinden?

Als we
daarentegen opgroeien
op andere plaatsen of gaan rondreizen door andere landen,
waar we in contact komen met andere stammen, rassen, volkeren, culturen
via handelsbetrekkingen & allerlei veranderende wetenschappen & omstandigheden,
dan lijkt alles steeds sneller 'anders' te gaan bij ons
dan voorheen 't geval was!

Dat zal dus
zowel opgaan voor individuen
als voor groepen: tegelijkertijd zijn 'r onderdelen in ons
& leden van al 'die groep{en}' die bijna hetzelfde blijven -
niet alles gaat in hetzelfde tempo voor iedereen -
we blijven 'n mengelmoesje van toevalligheden
& samenloop van omstandigheden.

Dat is voor mijn gevoel
ook 't proces waaraan mensen zoals Uri Davis,
Danny Boyarin & alle anderen die we zo nu & dan aanhalen
aan bijdragen door 't zelf te beleven &
te beschrijven: "Our
Social Changes"
...

OTHER
SPECIFIC DIFFERANDA
OF LATE ANTIQUE MARTYRDOM
GREW UP MOST NATURALLY IN THE CHRISTIAN MILIEU
IN THE THIRD AND EARLY FOURTH CENTURIES,
DURING THE DECIAN PERSECUTION AND
THE "GREAT PERSECUTION".

THIS INTERACTION IS POLEMICAL:
A STANCE INEVITABLY CONVEYED BY LITERATURE!
OTHER EVIDENCE OF CONTINUING INFLUENCE ON CHRISTIANS OF JEWISH EXEGETICAL TRADITIONS -
AND WHY SHOULD NOT THE PROCESS HAVE ALSO BEEN REVERSED? -
SUGGESTS THAT IT MAY SOMETIMES HAVE BEEN
LESS EXPLICITLY SO: SEE ALSO THE HAGGADAH
OF PASSOVER & EASTER ON
VERY SIMILAR THEMES.

IT TENDS TO LEAN
EXCLUSIVELY ON A MODEL
OF A POLEMICAL INTERACTION, RATHER THAN
CONSIDERING THE POSSIBILITY OF SHARED & DIFFUSED EXEGETICAL TRADITIONS AS WELL!
IN CONTRAST THE INTERPRETATION OF SUFFERING AS A FOLLOWING OF CHRIST TO GLORY,
WHICH HAD BEEN DEVELOPING SINCE THE END OF THE DECIAN PERSECUTION,
BROKE INTO FULL BLOSSOM UNDER VALERIAN'S
ASSAULT ON THE CHURCH.

CYPRIAN
INFORMED THE CONFESSORS
THAT THEIR ENSLAVEMENT & APPROACHING DEATHS WERE ACTUALLY
THE CROWNING OF A VIRTUOUS
AND FAITHFUL LIFE?!

Since most
of the persecutions in the third century,
if not virtually all, were of Christians, & not of Jews,
martyrology naturally transformed & evolved in that century primarily within Christian circles,
adapting & adopting various cultural elements from within the worlds of the martyrs
and the martyrologists, in particular tragic and gladiatorial motifs,
as well as the fascinating way that the Sacrifice of Isaac
{Yitschak} was somehow reconnected
with child sacrifice
at Carthage.

THIS ELEMENT
IS ALREADY PRESENT
IN THE EARLIEST FORM OF CHRISTIAN-ERA
JEWISH MARTYR TEXTS, 4 MACCABEES, AS WELL AS IN POLYCARP,
WHICH CAN BE READ AS MANIFESTING A SHARED THOUGHT-WORLD
PERHAPS IN THE SAME GEOPRAPHICAL AREA.

AFTER ALL
REMARKABLE SENSITIVITY,
COMPLEXITY & NUANCE OF HISTORICAL MODELS
OF JEWISH-CHRISTIAN CULTURAL INTERACTION
THAT HERE DEVELOPS?!

In addition,
another momentous element
seems to have been added to the mix at some time, namely,
"the authentic [sic] documentation of the legal hearing."
In den christlichen Martyrien bildet trotz aller Verschiedenheid der Formen
bei den authentischen Dokumentation das Prozessverfahren den Kern.
Vielleicht liegt darin der Unterschied zu den juedischen Martyrien,
sodass dadurch der Begriff martus als typisch
christlicher Titel zu verstehen waere.
Vaunted "authenticity," accepting so
even the highly contested acts of
Pionius as if they were straight-
forward documentation of
"the society of second &
third-century
Smyrna."

Anyway,
these themes,
narratological & theological,
were recycled back into talmudic texts
as a way of narratizing and grasping the deaths of the persecuted Jews
of the second century under Hadrian, and ultimately the original Maccabean death stories
were rethematized along these lines, as well!

You can't assume
talmudic texts manifest
a "complete lack of interrogation procedures" ...
All of the talmudic texts about martyrdom, whether Rabbi Eli'ezer's & Rabbi El'azar's escapes from martyr-dom or Rabbi Akiva's and Rabbi Hanina's martyrologies, manifest this element of the interrogation.
This allowa for a complicated, nuanced, historical account of how Jewish, Greek,
and Roman cultural elements became creatively combined
into late antique martyrology.
We must think of circulating
and recirculating motifs,
themes, and religious
ideas in the making
of martyrdom, a re-
circulation between
Christians & Jews
that allows for no
simple litany of
origins and
influence.

THE POLITICAL
& SPIRITUAL SITUATION
IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE MADE IT THUS POSSIBLE
THAT LITERARY LEGENDARY MOTIFS & THEOLOGICAL OR
PHILOSOPHICAL BELIEFS COULD TRAVEL FROM ONE RELIGION
TO THE OTHER. THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROPHET
WITH THE MARTYR, FOUND IN JEWISH,
CHRISTIAN &, TO A LESSER DEGREE
IN HELLENISTIC SOURCES
WOULD SEEM TO
BEAR THIS
OUT.


Wat
deden &
doen onze jongens
[en meisjes] in al die
verre landen & warme streken?
Hoe liepen & lopen al die migratiestromen
tussen Afrika, Europa,
Asia & the
America's
e.d.?

Wat
drijft ons
tot al die
ondekkings- & handelsreizen,
koloniale veroveringen,
beheersingen,
bevrijdingen?

Waar
komen al
die sociale & monetaire crises nu
eigenlijk vandaan & welke 'systemen' zullen
op den duur verdwijnen
& overleven?

Welke
"mydiverhaaltjes"
vertellen we elkaar om dag
& nacht te doorstaan
met een lach
en een
traan
...