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Overview
Approximately 2,500 Anabaptists were martyred in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Europe. Their surviving brethren compiled stories of those who suffered and died for the faith into martyr books. The most historically and culturally significant of these, The Bloody Theater—more commonly known as Martyrs Mirror—was assembled by the Dutch Mennonite minister Thieleman van Braght and published in 1660. Today, next to the Bible, it is the single most important text to Anabaptists—Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites. In some Anabaptist communities, it is passed to new generations as a wedding or graduation gift.
David L. Weaver-Zercher combines the fascinating history of Martyrs Mirror with a detailed analysis of Anabaptist life, religion, and martyrdom. He traces the publication, use, and dissemination of this key martyrology across nearly four centuries and explains why it holds sacred status in contemporary Amish and Mennonite households. Even today, the words and deeds of these martyred Christians are referenced in sermons, Sunday school lessons, and history books.
Weaver-Zercher argues that Martyrs Mirror was designed to teach believers how to live a proper Christian life. In van Braght’s view, accounts of the martyrs helped to remind readers of the things that mattered, thus inspiring them to greater faithfulness. Martyrs Mirror remains a tool of revival, offering new life to the communities and people who read it by revitalizing Anabaptist ideals and values. Meticulously researched and illustrated with sketches from early publications of Martyrs Mirror, Weaver-Zercher’s ambitious history weaves together the existing scholarship on this iconic text in an accessible and engaging way.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781421418827 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Johns Hopkins University Press |
| Publication date: | 03/15/2016 |
| Series: | Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies |
| Pages: | 440 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d) |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Part I The Prehistory and Production of The Bloody Theater
Chapter 1 Anabaptism: Origins, Spread, and Persecution 3
Chapter 2 Memorializing Martyrdom before The Bloody Theater 21
Chapter 3 Thieleman van Braght and the Publication of The Bloody Theater 45
Chapter 4 The Bloody Theater: Martyr Stories and More 65
Part II Van Braght's Martyrology through the Years
Chapter 5 The Bloody Theater Illustrated: The 1685 Martyrs Mirror 89
Chapter 6 A North American Edition: The 1748-49 Ephrata Martyrs Mirror 123
Chapter 7 Martyrs Mirror in Nineteenth-Century America 147
Chapter 8 Martyrs Mirror in Twentieth-Century America 177
Part III Contemporary Approaches to Martyrs Mirror
Chapter 9 Tradition-Minded Anabaptists and the Use of Martyrs Mirror 209
Chapter 10 Assimilated Mennonites and the Dilemma of Martyrs Mirror 237
Chapter 11 The Most Usable Martyr: Putting Dirk Willems to Work 264
Chapter 12 Going Global: Martyrs Mirror in the Twenty-First Century 292
Conclusion 315
Acknowledgments 323
Notes 327
Index 401
What People are Saying About This
Presently in religious history there is a critical discussion afoot to understand religion and print culture. This is an important book that significantly advances the way scholars consider not only Martyrs Mirror, but also how texts help to create communities, how religious communities create and sustain memory, and how the roles of narrative production and audience reception are organically related.
Well-conceived, well-written, and well-researched, Martyrs Mirror is a terrific book and an absolute pleasure to read.
An ambitious and unprecedented undertaking, this book brings together an accessible summary of scholarship about the Martyrs Mirror with fresh interviews and comments from diverse Anabaptist groups. Weaver-Zercher has a knack for highlighting conflicts and dramas associated with the text's history.
Well-conceived, well-written, and well-researched, Martyrs Mirror is a terrific book and an absolute pleasure to read.—Paul C. Gutjahr, Indiana University, author of The Book of Mormon: A Biography
An ambitious and unprecedented undertaking, this book brings together an accessible summary of scholarship about the Martyrs Mirror with fresh interviews and comments from diverse Anabaptist groups. Weaver-Zercher has a knack for highlighting conflicts and dramas associated with the text's history.—Gerald J. Mast, Bluffton University, author of Separation and the Sword in Anabaptist Persuasion: Radical Confessional Rhetoric from Schleitheim to Dordrecht
Presently in religious history there is a critical discussion afoot to understand religion and print culture. This is an important book that significantly advances the way scholars consider not only Martyrs Mirror, but also how texts help to create communities, how religious communities create and sustain memory, and how the roles of narrative production and audience reception are organically related.—Philip Goff, Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture (IUPUI)