The Great Persecution: A Historical Re-Examination by Min Seok Shin (review)

Given how central the Great Persecution of 303–313 was to the history of the fourth century and the Christian church, and the number of studies that have been devoted to it over the years, it comes as something of a surprise to read that this is the first book-length treatment by a single author in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of early Christian studies 2021-10, Vol.29 (3), p.447-449
Main Author: Drake, H. A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
4th century
Christianity
Christians
Death & dying
Martyrs
Persian language
Reasoning
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Given how central the Great Persecution of 303–313 was to the history of the fourth century and the Christian church, and the number of studies that have been devoted to it over the years, it comes as something of a surprise to read that this is the first book-length treatment by a single author in almost a century. [...]in a relatively brief third part, Shin carries the story down to Constantine’s defeat of the eastern emperor Licinius in 324, listing official actions taken by each of the emperors in turn. There are occasional bouts of circular reasoning (on whether Armenian king Tiridates III issued a persecuting edict: “We should not deny the possibility . . . since it was an imperial edict that was the most powerful method for a king to implement a policy,” 187), and occasional lapses (the emperor Valerian was not “flayed alive” by his captor, the Persian shah Shapur I [81]; Lactantius [De mortibus persecutorum 5.6] says the emperor’s hide was only turned into a trophy after his death).
ISSN:1067-6341
1086-3184
1086-3184
DOI:10.1353/earl.2021.0028