BIBFRAME Work

Title

A memory of violence

Type

• Monograph
• Text

Contribution

• Shepardson, Christine C., 1972- (author )

Subject

• Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600 (LCSH)
• Syriac Christians--History--To 1500 (LCSH)

Language

• English

Classification

• DDC: 281/.6309 (Assigner: dlc)
• LCC: DS59.S94 S56 2025 (Assigner: dlc) (Status: used by assigner)

Content

• text

Supplementary content

• index
• bibliography

Summary

"A Memory of Violence traces the rhetorical strategies of religious radicalization that encouraged fifth- and sixth-century miaphysite Christians to be willing to suffer physical deprivation and harm rather than abandon the church that the late Roman Empire defined as heresy after the Council of Chalcedon in 451. These Syriac texts created genealogies of orthodoxy and heresy, represented their heroes as martyr saints, and reminded their followers of God's coming judgment. Later they gained renewed relevance when they were copied and translated under the emerging 'Umayyad caliphate of Islam. This book reshapes representations of late antiquity by centering Syriac Christianity in these complex and politicized doctrinal conflicts. Tracing these rhetorical strategies not only sheds light on early Christian history in the Middle East, but also provides a rich case study of religious schism, devotion, and survival that continues to resonate today"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Introduction : an imperial church in turmoil -- Historical foundations : social networks and regional diversity -- Geneaologies of orthodoxy : remembering the saints -- Genealogies of heresy : remembering Nestorius and Chalcedon -- Victims of violence : narratives of suffering and persecution -- Suffering now or later : prophecy and the final judgment -- Ritual flashpoints : performing radical difference -- Give it up for God : John of Ephesus and the later sixth century -- Conclusion : apocalypse now : Christian identity and the rise of Islam.

Authorized Access Point

Shepardson, Christine C., 1972-. A memory of violence

Admin Metadata

• Date: 2026-09-11T22:19:38.907806+00:00
• Agent: cbc
• Status: c
• Derived from: 23955316

Admin Metadata

• Date: 2026-09-11
• Cataloger id: Unknown
• Description level: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe-2-6-0/
• Description language: eng
• Description authentication: pcc