Matt Recla, acting associate director of University Foundations, recently published a chapter in the book “The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom.”
His chapter, “Martyrdom and the Creation of Christian Identity,” explores how though martyrdom is commonly understood to be central to Christian identity, this understanding overlooks the crucial existential difference of the martyr. This existential difference—not religious identity—is key to understanding not only “Christian” martyrdom, but martyrdom of all types.