Kwaku Boamah

Magic and Obstinacy of the Early Christians: Persecutions and Martyrdoms in the Roman Empire Kwaku Boamah

This work seeks to answer two important questions linked to the persecution and martyrdom of the early Christians from 70 ? 250 AD. A major accusation of the Christians was the perception of they are magicians. The question is; what made the pagans see the Christians as such and what was the relationship between the Christian miracle and the practice of magic at the time? In answering this question, it will be necessary to contrast the activities and the stories of the Christians with the stories told about other known or perceived pagan magicians such as Apollonius and Apuleius. The second aspect of this publication looks at the obstinacy of the Christians as described in Christian martyr narratives. The focus of this aspect is to explain the link constructed in the texts between some visions that these martyrs are described to have seen and their subsequent obstinacy. The real question in this section is what was the relationship between the visions martyrs are said to have seen and their obstinate behaviors?