This book examines late antique and medieval devotional texts and materials, ranging from the eastern Mediterranean to northwestern Europe, related to the Maccabean martyrs. This unique group of people were Jews who died for the Mosaic Law before the birth of Jesus. Joslyn-Siemiatkoski demonstrates that Christian thinkers constructed memories of the Maccabean martyrs that simultaneously appropriated Jewish traditions and obscured the Jewish origins of Christianity.

Praise

“Christian Memories of the Maccabean Martyrs is an eloquently written and richly documented study on interfaith devotion and commemoration of the Maccabean Martyrs from the early to late Medieval period. By examining how Christians appropriated and created collective memories of these Jewish martyrs alongside the parallel continuation and cultivation of memory and devotion of them among Jews, Joslyn-Siemiatkoski provides a model study on Jewish/Christian interfaith culture.”--Darleen Pryds, Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality and Medieval History, Franciscan School of Theology

About the Author(s)

Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski

Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski is Assistant Professor of Church History at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, a founding member of the Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley, California. His research focuses on the history of Jewish-Christian relations in the late antique and medieval periods. He received his Ph.D. from Boston College.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Remembering the Maccabean Martyrs * The Earliest Memories of the Maccabean Martyrs and Resistance Culture * Late Antique Bishops and Memories of the Maccabean Martyrs * Memories of the Maccabean Martyrs in the Christian Medieval West * Jewish Saints and Christian Cities: Rhineland Traditions of the Maccabean Martyrs * Conclusion: Memories of the Maccabean Martyrs and Remembering History Ethically