Martyr's Manual

""Faith"" gets its most powerful definition from the New Testament book of Hebrews. Yet this anonymous treatise tantalizes with both its lack of contemporary precision about faith's definition and its shrouded original context. There are, however, sufficient clues in Hebrew's text to guide astute investigators toward a strange and yet familiar world of religious challenge in which the deeply significant rituals of ancient Israel, the attractive moral character of first-century Jews in Rome, a crowd of disaffected righteous Romans, and a purported Palestinian messiah converge to produce one of the world's most thoughtful, courageous, and brilliant calls to martyrdom. In this careful pilgrimage along the author's meticulous development of a holy challenge to remain faithful to Jesus (precisely because there are no meaningful alternatives), Brouwer helps us find an inspiring and ever-relevant call to faith--we become the persons we are through the daily choices we make about Jesus and others.


Wayne Brouwer is associate professor of religion at Hope College and adjunct professor of theology and ministry at Western Theological Seminary, both in Holland, Michigan. He is the author of Splitting the Day of the Lord (2018); Covenant Documents: Reading the Bible Again for the First Time (2015); The Literary Development of John 13-17: A Chiastic Reading (2000); and Being a Believer in an Unbelieving World (1999).