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Introduction
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Introduction he martyr as hero appeared in Western culture centuries before the discovery of the New World. Socrates, Leonidas, Judah the Maccabee, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Galileo, Jordano Bruno, William of Orange, and many others suffered and, in most cases, sacrificed their lives, for a sublime purpose. Later generations glorified these individuals and perceived them as martyrs. Obviously, martyrdom took many forms in different civilizations and sacrifice had disparate meanings in various societies. Yet, while sacrifice dominated many pagan rituals, the martyred figure became a wellknown symbolic archetype only under the monotheistic tradition and particularly in Christianity. With the triumph of Christianity in the West, the martyr became part of the collective imagination of Western civilization, embodied above all in the real as well as the symbolic figure of Jesus Christ. The martyr suffers enormously and often dies a terrible death because of his absolute faith and total devotion to the transcendental world, which he has witnessed. The very term martyr means witness—an individual who has the ability to penetrate the divine world and to bear testimony to a divine revelation. Supernatural power determines the course of his life and decides when he should be removed from the human world. In his life he delivers a divine message to all human beings and through his suffering and tragic death this message perpetuates itself for the coming generations. Moreover, the martyr overcomes his physical existence and turns into pure spirit through the process of suffering. In most cases the martyr sacrifices himself for the sake of his community, thus atoning for the sins of all members of human society. As part of a biblical cosmic order, he appears as a messiah, analogous to the Son of God who is to return at the end of history to redeem T I t mankind and proclaim the coming of the millennium. As hero-redeemer, the martyr transcends his particular time—often described as the premillennial reign of Evil, which explains the martyr's tragic fate—to become a herald of universal human salvation. Christ became the most famous Christian martyr, even though his strict followers endured similar fates. St. Stephen's blood stained Jerusalem's streets before he was stoned to death. St. Peter, exhausted from the lash and the dungeon, died in torment on another cross, St. Lawrence was roasted over a slow fire, and many other followers of Christ suffered martyrdom. But the blood of martyrs became the seed of the church and explained to many Christians the triumph of their religion over the pagan world. In the period of the Reformation Jan Huss together with two hundred other Protestant martyrs suffered terrible deaths at the hands of their Catholic enemies, thus pushing mankind another step toward the desired millennium. John Foxe, who fought for the Reformation in England, provided Protestants all over the world with a monumental list of martyrs, which acquired the popular name The Book of Martyrs. Published first in England in March 1563, this volume reappeared with the names of additional martyred figures in 1570, 1576, and, finally, 1583. Christians in general and Protestants in particular became familiar with the image of their martyred heroes. When the English emigrated to the New World they took Foxe's Book of Martyrs with them. In many Protestant homes in the American colonies the Book of Martyrs stood next to the family Bible, often as the only other book.] In the early days of the Republic most Americans were familiar with biblical, Christian, and Protestant martyrs who suffered and died to pave the way for a better mankind and world redemption. They also held the view that the Old World had strayed from its redemptive mission and therefore God had ordered Columbus to discover a new and empty continent for a liberty-loving people. On this new continent, according to the early Pilgrims and Puritans, they would build a "City upon the Hill," an example for the unregenerated world to follow. Indeed, many Americans applied religious terminology to their political experience. They interpreted the departure from Europe as an Exodus and perceived their nation as a new Israel, abiding by a divine covenant and with a holy mission, to reconstruct the perfect world, thus redeeming mankind from the Adamic fall.2 But, according to many Protestant leaders, America as a redeemer nation [35.172.194.25] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 14:19 GMT) INTRODUCTION 3 faced an enormous danger: that of deviating from its mission. History showed...