The forgotten link: genesis of the Dongba Pictograph

Paul Middleton, Dean of the School of The Arts, The University of Northampton presented a research paper: 'The Forgotten Link: genesis of Donga Pictograph', following the study trips to Lijiang, China 2011-2012

International Conference on Dongba Culture: Visual Communication and Semiotic Perspectives

This exhibition and conference focuses on the visual identity of the Naxi ethnic minority group from Yunnan province in China. Through the meeting of differing cultures and countries we hope to develop a shared understanding of the value of promoting and preserving the Naxi culture with its unique pictograph based scripts

Martyrdom

This is the author's pre-press version of a dictionary extract appearing in I.A. McFarland, D.A.S. Fergusson, K. Kilby, & I.R. Torrance (Eds.), The Cambridge dictionary of Christian theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 301-303. Included with kind permission of Cambridge University Press.Dictionary article on martyrdom in Christianit

Introduction

An exhibition curated by Paul Middleton & Carolyn Puzzovio as part of the Tirana Book Fair, November 201

Christology, vindication, and martyrdom in the Gospel of Mark and the Apocalypse: Two New Testament views

This is the author's pre-press pdf of a book chapter published in Mark, manuscripts, and monotheism, published by Bloomsbury, 2014, available at http://www.bloomsbury.com This book chapter is not the final print version and is included with kind permission of Bloomsbury.This book chapter discusses the persecution of early Christians and martyrdom in the Gospel of Mark and the Book of Revelation

Early Christian voluntary martyrdom: A statement for the defence

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Theological Studies following peer review. The version of record, 2013, 64(2), 556-573 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jts/flt123Many studies of early Christian martyrdom have noted the phenomenon of voluntary martyrdom. However, most scholars, drawing on criticism of the practice found in the Martyrdom of Polycarp and Clement of Alexandria, dismiss those who provoked their own arrest and death as deviant, heretical, or numerically insignificant. This article argues instead that the earliest Christian martyrologies celebrate voluntary martyrdom as a valid mainstream Christian practice, which faced only isolated challenge in the first three centuries. Furthermore, pagan sources support the view that voluntary martyrdom was a significant historical as well as literary phenomenon. As there is no reason to conclude voluntary martyrdom was anything other than a valid subset of proto-orthodox Christian martyrdom, more attention should be paid to this phenomenon by early Christian historians.This article was submitted to the RAE2014 for the University of Chester - Theology & Religious Studies

"Suffer Little Children": Child Sacrifice, Martyrdom, and Identity Formation in Judaism and Christianity

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a published work that appeared in final form in Journal of Religion and Violence. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/jrv201612531This essay examines the contrasting ways in which the sacrifice of children is portrayed in Jewish and Christian martyrologies. In these narratives of extreme persecution and suffering, death was often seen to be the way in which religious integrity and identity was preserved. It is argued that Jewish martyr narratives—for example, the First Crusade, Masada, and the Maccabees—reflect a developed notion of collective martyrdom, such that the deaths of children, even at the hands of their parents, are a necessary component in Jewish identity formation. By contrast, early Christianity martyr texts reflect an ambivalence towards children, to the extent that they are viewed as a potential hindrance to the successful martyrdom of their Christian mothers. Children have to be abandoned for women to retain their Christian identity

What is martyrdom?

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Mortality on 12 March 2014, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13576275.2014.894013In the aftermath of 9/11, and the increase of the phenomenon of ‘suicide bombing’, it has become important for politicians, academics, and religious leaders to distinguish between ‘true’ and ‘false’ manifestations of martyrdom. In order to do so, and to counter those who argue for the legitimacy of the suicide-attack, they must appeal to an objective and shared definition of martyrdom. However, as this article demonstrates, such a definition is elusive. Moreover, the quest to find one is doomed to failure; martyrdom has always been a contested phenomenon. Even excluding those who kill themselves or others from martyr-status is problematic, as examples of those remembered as martyrs are found in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. Official ecclesiastical canonisation processes are vulnerable to popular acclamation of ‘unofficial’ martyrs, and in any case churches often break their own rules. While mining the earliest Christian usage of the term ‘martus’ might appear promising, martyrdom was no less controversial in the early church, and functioned primarily as a means of creating and maintaining group identity, especially in the context of intra-Christian conflict. By examining martyrological narratives from the early, Reformation, and modern periods–where I show that martyrologies can be created quite separately from their martyr’s actual convictions–I argue that attempts to distinguish between true and false ideologies of martyrdom are simply replaying historical disputes, and should be read as contributions to the martyrological process of creating or maintaining religious or political group identity

Male virgins, male martyrs, male brides: A reconsideration of the 144,000 who have not dirtied themselves with women (Rev 14.4)

This book chapter is not available through ChesterRep