"Brad Gregory explores Protestant, Catholic, and Anabaptist martyrs in a sustained fashion, addressing the similarities and differences in their self-understanding. He traces the processes and impact of their memorialization by co-believers, and he reconstructs the arguments of the ecclesiastical and civil authorities responsible for their deaths.

In addition, he assesses the controversy over the meaning of executions for competing views of Christian truth and the intractable dispute over the distinction between true and false martyrs."--BOOK JACKET.