- Wednesday, March 16, 2022
- 4:00 PM–5:30 PM
- Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Dr. Matt Lundberg (Director, de Vries Institute for Global Faculty Development, Professor of Religion, Calvin University) will explore the function of the notion of martyrdom in relation to the topic of violence, by exploring the strange paradox that exists between Christian faiths lauding of the suffering of violence in martyrdom and its involvement in the inflicting of violence, as in just war, policing, and other tangles of violence that implicate us all.
Why has martyrdom—the suffering of death for Christ’s sake—received such admiration in Christianity? How ought the concept of martyrdom to function in theology and for the Christian life? This presentation will explore the function of the notion of martyrdom in relation to the topic of violence, by exploring the strange paradox that exists between Christian faith’s lauding of the suffering of violence in martyrdom and its involvement in the inflicting of violence, as in just war, policing, and other tangles of violence that implicate us all. The result will challenge some of our assumptions about the shape of martyrdom, as well as shed light on mainstream Christianity’s approach to permissible violence. The speaker will be drawing from themes examined in his recent book, Christian Martyrdom and Christian Violence: On Suffering and Wielding the Sword (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Dr. Matt Lundberg is the Director of the de Vries Institute for Global Faculty Development and Professor of Religion at Calvin University.
