Cozying up with Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer by Jean-Leon Gerome, 1883

            There are some books that make you want to curl up with a cup of tea and enjoy.  Foxe’s Book of Martyrs is not one of those books.  It makes you squirm.  John Foxe lived in the 1500’s and was a student of church history.  When Bloody Mary, Queen of Scotts came to power in England, she was determined to crush the Protestant church.  Foxe, a protesting Catholic, fled to Europe.  While in exile, he began to compile the stories of Christian martyrs starting with the first martyr, Stephen, and continuing to the years preceding John Wycliffe, the Morning Star of the Reformation.  Upon Mary’s death Foxe returned to England and continued cataloguing the brutal suffering and deaths of the saints under her rule.  This compilation has been revised and added to over the years and is now called “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs”.  Newer versions include martyrs up to the twenty first century.   Page after page recounts the stories of Christians burned, boiled, cut into pieces, flogged, kidnapped, beaten, tortured, starved, imprisoned, exiled, discriminated against, and shot.

            Why would one want to read such a book- or assign it to their 9^th grader?  (This was what my 9^th grader asked.)  Actually, he is an avid reader and although martyrdom is not his favorite genre he acquiesced.  Let me back up a bit here.  Our school is classical/eclectic, in that I employ lots of different teaching methods but overall I am following the classical model of education.  This model is known for three stages of education: grammar, logic and rhetoric.  A high value is placed on studying original sources as opposed to having textbooks synthesize information and present it to you with the bias of a team of writers. A lot of time is spent teaching how to think rather than what to think.   Now, I definitely use textbooks for some of our subjects but I  also see the importance of going back to these primary documents in order to get the whole picture.  So, this means that instead of telling the kids that there were lots of Christian martyrs and that a man named Foxe wrote a book about them, we will read it.

A martyr is one who “bears witness.”    The modern connotation suggests untimely death as the ultimate price borne by those who wear the title but Foxe also included the emperor Constantine, John Wycliff and Martin Luther although they died naturally. He considered their work and suffering on account of Christ to sufficiently bear witness to his saving power.   Foxe was writing as an eyewitness to many of the horrors he recounted during the turbulent times in which he lived.  

So, again, why read this book?  Well, because it reminds us that often the church thrives when it is persecuted.  And just as importantly, when the church is strong and growing, it often leads to persecution.  Early church leader, Turtullian, said it best, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”  This seems counterintuitive.  How could Jesus’ followers be strengthened by their own suffering and destruction?  Because that’s how God said it would be. Christians are commanded to follow in the willing sufferings of Christ. “For even unto this were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously: Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed” (I Peter 2:21-24).

Jesus sacrificial death was sufficient.  Christians do not have to add to the finished work of Christ. So what is the point of their sharing in His suffering and death on account of the gospel?  It is this.  The blood of the martyrs, sacrificed willingly and with joy, is the most powerful witness to the truth, love and power of Christ this side of heaven.

After reading 400 pages of the testimonies of a host of saints who followed Christ even unto death, it causes me to contemplate a couple of questions.  Am I prepared to stand firm for Christ to the end and joyfully embrace suffering, persecution and even death for the sake of the gospel?  Am I being faithful to pray for the persecuted church of today?  More importantly, if someone accused me of being a follower of Jesus, would there be enough evidence in my life to condemn me?