Martyrdom and the Suffering of the Righteous

This volume contains the addresses delivered at the sixth annual theological conference, now named the Braaten-Benne lectures, held and sponsored by the North American Lutheran Church, on August 11-12, 2015. In an age when the word "martyr" is increasingly confused with suicide terrorism and savage attacks on innocent civilians, Christians need to understand and accurately reclaim the term. Those who die killing innocent victims in acts of suicide are not martyrs but murderers. Those who die willingly rather than renounce the name of Jesus are martyrs, not apostates or infidels. The lectures in this volume illuminate the reality of martyrdom in our modern world and rightly identify a Christian's stance in understanding and responding to such attacks upon God's people.