James Petitfils is Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Biola University. He is the author of Mos Christianorum: The Roman Discourse of Exemplarity and the Jewish and Christian Language of Leadership.

“Dying in Style engages in a novel reading of early Christian martyr narratives within the visual and specular economy of the Roman empire. Petitfils adroitly shows how these narratives deployed physical depiction of the martyrs to convey moral and theological messages that, along with visual cues, aimed to bind ancient audiences to these figures. A poignant examination of the rhetorical power of these stories, Dying in Style reminds us why the spectacular deaths of the martyrs exerted an enduring influence on the Christian imagination.”—Carly Daniel-Hughes, author of The Salvation of the Flesh in Tertullian of Carthage: Dressing for the Resurrection

James Petitfils is Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Biola University. He is the author of Mos Christianorum: The Roman Discourse of Exemplarity and the Jewish and Christian Language of Leadership.

“Dying in Style engages in a novel reading of early Christian martyr narratives within the visual and specular economy of the Roman empire. Petitfils adroitly shows how these narratives deployed physical depiction of the martyrs to convey moral and theological messages that, along with visual cues, aimed to bind ancient audiences to these figures. A poignant examination of the rhetorical power of these stories, Dying in Style reminds us why the spectacular deaths of the martyrs exerted an enduring influence on the Christian imagination.”—Carly Daniel-Hughes, author of The Salvation of the Flesh in Tertullian of Carthage: Dressing for the Resurrection

James Petitfils is Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Biola University. He is the author of Mos Christianorum: The Roman Discourse of Exemplarity and the Jewish and Christian Language of Leadership.

“Dying in Style engages in a novel reading of early Christian martyr narratives within the visual and specular economy of the Roman empire. Petitfils adroitly shows how these narratives deployed physical depiction of the martyrs to convey moral and theological messages that, along with visual cues, aimed to bind ancient audiences to these figures. A poignant examination of the rhetorical power of these stories, Dying in Style reminds us why the spectacular deaths of the martyrs exerted an enduring influence on the Christian imagination.”—Carly Daniel-Hughes, author of The Salvation of the Flesh in Tertullian of Carthage: Dressing for the Resurrection