Martyrdom and Identity: The Self on Trial

What does Christian martyrdom tell us about being a self? I argue that Christian martyrdom provides a coherent and compelling narration of the self in terms of the narrative of the life and death of Jesus Christ: a narrative that orients the self in hope towards the good and turns the self towards recognition of and sacrificial service of other selves. In conversation with writers such as Salman Rushdie and Charles Taylor and prompted by T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral, I show that Christian discipleship is not the path of establishing oneself securely, or pursuing the good made possible through collaboration with earthly power, or making oneself an identity through action according to some ideal, or seeking earthly or heavenly renown, but is rather narrated in the light of the experience of pierasmos (temptation/testing) and with reference to God's providence.