Browsing by Author "Kara, Kajil Ashokbhai"

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    Literary techniques and communicative aims in a selection of martyr narratives from the first three centuries C.E.
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Kara, Kajil Ashokbhai; Kotze, Annemare; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Studies dealing with martyr literature have seen scholarship explore the subject from a strictly historical perspective. However, this study moves away from a historical approach and looks at analyzing martyr literature and in particular, a selection of martyr stories from the first three centuries of Christianity, within the frameworks of New Historicism and Narratology. This thesis is made up of three chapters which interlink and provide the reader with a wider picture on early Christian literature, and in particular, martyr stories. Chapter one provides an introduction to the study and looks at the methodology, theoretical points of departure, research question, hypothesis, trends in scholarship and key terms. This content forms the basis for the presentation of the material in the rest of the thesis. Chapter two consists of a thorough literary analysis of a selection of passion narratives. This selection includes: the passion narratives of Jesus from the canonical gospels, the story of Stephen from The Acts of the Apostles, the narrative about Polycarp of Smyrna from The Martyrdom of Polycarp, and the narrative about Vibia Perpetua from The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity. This chapter argues that the gospel narratives were used as a “proto-narrative” by authors of later martyr stories when they created their own narratives. This argument is based on an assessment of the role of imitatio Christi and narrative mirroring in the various stories. Additionally, the three later martyr passiones (those of Stephen, Polycarp and Perpetua) which have been selected for analysis in chapter two are further examined in chapter three in order to assess whether these narratives were written with protreptic and / or paraenetic purposes in mind. In a close reading of these narratives, the study has found that the selected martyr stories aimed to fulfill both protreptic and paraenetic functions and played a strategic role in the growth and spread of the early Christian church.