An Ecclesiology of Martyrdom
A Crucified Church Witnessing to a New Creation
The white evangelical church in the United States (church) has found itself in a transitory period of dwindling cultural power. Yet, it still enjoys a level of power and privilege that impacts how it is seen and experienced by those within and without. Standing at a crossroads, the church can forge a path of responsible invitation or continue as if Christendom still exists. If the former is chosen, then an ecclesiology of martyrdom is one path that beckons the church seeking to be a voice of peace within a world of turmoil. To understand how an ecclesiology of martyrdom leads to a more relevant and prescient church, martyrdom needs to be defined. From that definition, the path to understanding the actions and practices of a church embracing martyrdom can be seen. Those actions and practices shape a polis which differentiates itself from the world. Finally, the martyrial church embraces an eschatology of radical hope in resurrection.
Defining martyrdom requires the definition of martyr to include the negative. The Oxford English Dictionary contains two definitions of martyr: " 1. a person who is killed because of their religious or other beliefs. 2. a person who displays or exaggerates their suffering or discomfort in order to obtain sympathy or admiration." [1] While the place of privilege enjoyed by the church causes many to see martyrdom in the second sense, the first is a closer definition for the purposes of this essay. However, seeing the martyr as one killed for their religious beliefs is too narrow. To define martyrdom in the broad sense for an ecclesiology is to see martyrdom as a way of living and an orientation toward discipleship in which the Christian is aware that martyrdom is not a special calling for a select few, but it is the calling of every Christian and church. [2] Martyrdom is a witness to the truth of the Jesus event in its entirety as evidenced in the cross and resurrection. Hovey uses the Gospel of Mark to show how the Gospel cannot be told in isolation from the body of the Church. It is that body itself battered as it witnesses to the truth of Christ, in which the truth of resurrection is found. The Church must locate itself within the Gospel to testify to its truth. "The church cannot tell the gospel Mark tells without locating itself within Mark’s narrative course of events... The church is promised that its faithful witness is integral to the internal coherence of the Gospel’s ability to function as a witness to others." [3] To live the life of a martyr is to be a disciple of Jesus the Christ. This is a life formed by the attitude of martyrdom as discipleship. Alan Kreider refers to this activity as "habitus."[4]
The "habitus" of the early Church is that which drew others into belief and faith. Kreider describes the actions and attitudes of the early church of martyrs:
When challenged about their ideas, Christians pointed to their actions. They believed that their habitus, their embodied behavior, was eloquent. Their behavior said what they believed; it was an enactment of their message. And the sources indicate that it was their habitus more than their ideas that appealed to the majority of the non-Christians who came to join them.[5]
When the church embraces the life of martyrdom as "habitus" it transforms the actions and behaviors. Within an ecclesiology of martyrdom, formative practices such as catechesis and the sacraments become more important that propositional claims to belief. This formation leads to a faith as defined by Aaron Simmons "risk with direction."[6] The church embracing martyrdom becomes a body constantly moving toward Jesus with the understanding of risk. But in that risk is the becoming like Jesus. As Tripp Fuller writes about the confession of Jesus as the Christ: "the task of the disciple is to understand the content of the confession and then begin the journey to inhabit that same mind that was in Christ Jesus. Peter may have received the identity of Jesus in faith, but he continually resisted the way of Christ all the way to the cross."[7] How does a church living with a faithfulness that looks like risk with direction live this out? Through formative acts, such as catechesis, baptism, and Eucharist.
Kreider explains the importance of formation to the early church; "The early Christians were uncommonly committed to forming the habitus of their members. So they emphasized catechesis—careful formation and teaching—in preparation for baptism."[8] In the present time, we can see catechesis as preceding the baptism of adults and also following the baptism of infants and children. The importance is teaching the discipleship of Jesus as a life of faithfulness to discipleship. Baptism itself takes on a more important place within an ecclesiology of martyrdom. Baptism is not simply a rite or ritual, but a symbol of "cleansing and drowning."[9] In the twin ideas of becoming clean while being drowned, baptism becomes "risk with direction." But that direction is one that shapes the polis described later. In the life of a church living as martyrs, the Eucharistic reception becomes the ongoing reminder of the identity as a martyrial community participating in the cross as an ongoing testimony. The church living as martyrs tells the story of Gospel in relational action through sacrament which flows to outward care for others.
The ecclesiology of martyrdom extends to the polis embraced by the church. Within the polis, the most difficult requirement of martyrdom is faced by the mostly white evangelical church in the United States. This is the polis of following a crucified God in a life of solidarity as martyrdom in discipleship. Martyrdom demands stepping outside the polis of the world and walking a path in the polis of Christ. The polis of Christ must be reinforced and lived out in discipleship. Baptism symbolizes cleansing and drowning, and the early church's example can help us embrace the new creation in Christ. Brent Peterson explains in his book Created to Worship how the baptismal pledges and renunciations worked:
The candidates (parents and godparents speak on behalf of infants and younger children) are then asked to renounce Satan, evil powers, and sinful desires. This renunciation is followed by asking the candidates if they seek to turn to Jesus Christ as Savior. Such renouncing and pledges should be imagined as political vows of commitment. These vows are political because those seeking baptism are pledging their primary allegiance and loyalty to God and God’s kingdom as members of the body of Christ (a body politic).[10]
This importance of what is pledged and renounced is that the church will find itself at odds with almost all human politics at some point if it is being prophetically consistent with its call to martyrdom. Kreider's "habitus" illuminates how the modern church seeking to follow the call of martyrdom can follow. From patience in the marketplace, sexual ethics, and a radical hospitality, the "habitus" of the early church drew others to a life of martyrdom. Embracing martyrdom as part of their ecclesiology may cause Christians to clash with each other. New creation ethics should drive the decisions made in business, cultural discussions, and even in politics. Christians will find themselves at odds with the body politic at every decision. Practically, this means acting in radical hospitality toward the world. This hospitality and the patience of a martyrial life will impact how Christians act. In the ecclesiology of martyrdom, the current polarized responses to LGBTQI+, poverty, immigration, and other social issues will inevitably fall to a via media as the church lays down itself in solidarity with the hurting. Christians may even simply bake a cake rather than fighting for rights. Because concerns over rights become secondary to the eschatological hope lived out by a martyrial church.
Any ecclesiology which ignores eschatological concerns lacks the element of hope possible in holistic eschatology. For the church living in the reality of martyrdom, there is an eschatological hope present in resurrection. This is a resurrection which is present and to come, but also a resurrection steeped in mystery. Paul speaks to the reality of the resurrection being available only as part of the suffering of Christ in Philippians 3. So that resurrection hope is witnessed by the life of martyrdom. Paul is reaching for resurrection as he discusses how we participate only in the death of Christ. Hovey says that resurrection is mysterious and undefinable. "The New Testament does not try to clarify for us what a 'resurrection' means, just as it leaves 'transfiguration' obscure. It does not enumerate the characteristics of a resurrected body. Jesus is not kept at a distance by this mystery; the mystery serves, in fact, to draw us into it."[11] The power of resurrection is only revealed by the church willingly following Christ in suffering as a life of martyrdom.
A martyrial church is one that embraces the ecclesiology of martyrdom and willingly lays down its own "body" in solidarity with the hurting. The church living out martyrdom desires that all can realize the resurrection power of dying in martyrdom by taking up crosses as they follow Jesus. Within the ecclesiology of martyrdom, holiness is evidenced by the church acting in solidarity by dying to itself and pointing to the Christ. The church of ecclesial martyrdom forges its own path in the polis and exposes the lie of power offered by the world's polis such that a radical eschatological and hospitable hope shines into the darkness.
Works Cited
Fuller, Tripp. Divine Self-Investment. Sacrasage, n.d.
Hovey, Craig. To Share in the Body. Grand Rapids, Mich: Brazos Press, 2008.
J. Aaron Simmons. Camping with Kierkegaard: Faithfulness as a Way of Life. Wisdom/Work, 2023.
Kreider, Alan. The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016.
Peterson, Brent. Created to Worship: God’s Invitation to Become Fully Human. Beacon Hill Press, 2012.
Soanes, Catherine, and Angus Stevenson, eds. Concise Oxford English Dictionary. 11th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
[1] Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, eds., Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004).
[2] Craig Hovey, To Share in the Body (Grand Rapids, Mich: Brazos Press, 2008), 58.
[3] Hovey, 125.
[4] Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016), 2.
[5] Kreider, 2.
[6] J. Aaron Simmons, Camping with Kierkegaard: Faithfulness as a Way of Life (Wisdom/Work, 2023), 24.
[7] Tripp Fuller, Divine Self-Investment (Sacrasage, n.d.), 11.
[8] Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, 2.
[9] Hovey, To Share in the Body, 22.
[10] Brent Peterson, Created to Worship: God’s Invitation to Become Fully Human (Beacon Hill Press, 2012), 172.
[11] Hovey, To Share in the Body, 127.