Dying for the Faith, Killing for the Faith: Old-Testament Faith-Warriors (1 and 2 Maccabees) in Historical Perspective : Old-testament Faith-warriors (Maccabees 1 and 2) in Historical Perspective

"Killing for the faith, dying for the faith" the message of the Books of Maccabees is martial. The circumstances in which the Maccabeean literature emerged are complex; even more com plex is the history of its influence, the Wirkungsgeschichte in the sense Hans-Georg Gadamer has given to the term. This history stands at the center of the essays collected in this volume, essays, which extend thematically and chronologically from the cult of martyrs in late antiquity to the time of the modern wars of liberation.