I would like to suggest this book The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom by Candida R. Moss.
Excellent suggestion.
Though recommended by Desmond Tutu, so might not meet the FL curation policies.
I went ahead and got the Kindle; cheap. And so far (early chapters), it would be a good fit in Logos, especially the apostolic and early church fathers period.
I didn't know Tertulian was a professional lawyer.
+1 [Y]
Just pirate it. don't provide funding for liars who lie about us. I have an ebook of it.
Here are some reviews from folks from varying backgrounds: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/myth-persecution/ & https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/10/academic-review-of-moss-myth-of-persecution
I don't think I'd site that review as 'academic'. What caught my attention in the book was why early Christians would congregate in large numbers, from large distances at a cemetary. Powerful bones. Ezekiel deja vu.
But a big kudos to Chris for the recommend (hard to steal from FL, so there's that).
I don't think I'd site that review as 'academic'.
Which of the four reviews I linked to are you referring to? The one by Ephraim Radner? Or Clayton Croy's in the Society of Biblical Literature's Review of Biblical Literature? Or Michael Bird's? Or Michael Haykin's?
I wouldn't hold all of them to be 'academic' reviews, though they are all by academics, but surely at least one of the reviews is 'academic'? If you're interested, here's another review https://www.equip.org/PDF/JAF7366.pdf by another academic.
At any rate, I think https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/persecutions-and-history/ (not a review, author has a PhD in history) concisely makes the central points found in others' reviews.
Regarding 'which', the first was trashy. The second self-titled itself 'academic' (and largely name-calling, etc). Neither reflect on you.
As I read the book, I think the problem lies in semantics. The author draws a very tight definition of persecution (official; and not general prosecution). And then locks it down into documented, and documented well. So, as you go along, everything is dropping out, left and right. It's no wonder your cited articles went crazy (though a bit of professionalism might have been good).
As I read the book, I'm also guessing the author was silently crossing swords with 'the Church' (both western and eastern), though the issue of 'saints' and the process is not discussed. Hard to tell; you would know far more.
I enjoyed the book, more along the lines of everyday Christians ... I've always thought they kind of got 'cleaned up' after the Middle Ages, versus demons, increasingly bad-stories, fearful punishment, etc. Basically how beliefs go forward.
