In this article, Hahn discusses the various sources of the Maccabean books. He argues that the complex interweaving of narratives and source texts “contributed decisively” both to the story’s “extraordinary influence” and to its “tremendous potential for re-interpretation” (79). To support this thesis, Hahn focuses on the veneration of the Maccabees in fourth-century Antioch. By sketching a sociopolitical context characterized by religious diversity and competition, he demonstrates that the Maccabean tradition is characterized by “usurpation and re-interpretation.”
This “usurpation” takes three forms, in Hahn’s analysis. First, the seven brothers and their mothers are designated as Maccabees despite no link to the actual dynasty. Second, the account of this family’s martyrdom is a “literary usurpation” because the source for 2 Maccabees, a work by Jason of Cyrene, did not contain this episode. Third, the story of the Maccabean martyrs is always placed in the context of Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean revolt, even though veneration of the martyrs is quite suddenly found in Antioch in the fourth century CE.
It is in this context (late Antique Syria) that what Hahn calls “an astonishing, indeed unique development” (85) occurs: the veneration by Christians of Antioch of “genuinely Jewish martyrs” – the Maccabean brothers. Hahn sees this transformation as “a remarkable bridge between Judaism and Hellenism” (81). First of all, the story of the Maccabean martyrs was part of the Diaspora. Christianity “ennobled” this story by transferring the name of the book in which it is found (itself taken from the name of a Jewish dynasty) to the brothers themselves. In the form the martyrology takes in 4 Maccabees, the story becomes “philosophical;” in Hahn’s analysis, it “underlines the rule of reason over both the affects and the strengths of Jewish faith” (81). This episode thus links Judaism with Christianity via Greek philosophy.
The link between “representatives of Jewish salvation history” and “Christian ideas of physical torment, mortal danger, and miraculous, divinely inspired deliverance” (86) has a long history. By integrating Old Testament proto-martyrs into the Christian tradition – especially as motifs in Early Christian art – Christians reaffirmed their status as the only people chosen by God. To see how this broader trend manifests itself in Antioch, Hahn provides a general background of the city. As a multiethnic, prosperous city, Antioch had “a wide range of religious groups” (88). After a damaging schism in the local church, the Jews of Antioch strongly asserted their religious identities in the public sphere. This resulted in “Judaizing tendencies … in the majority of Antioch’s Christian populace, challenging the Church’s identity and doctrine” (89). It is in this context that the cult of the Maccabean brothers spread from Jews to Christians. Hahn argues that the cult was “neutralized through appropriation and theological reinterpretation” (91). For example, the Church took control of the site associated with veneration of the brothers and built a basilica there.
Hahn demonstrates that Antioch in the fourth century CE was a site of “open religious competition” (101). In this struggle between the Church (and its factions), the Jews, and the Roman state, among other actors, the veneration of Maccabean martyrs by multiple groups had “intra-urban cohesive potential” (101). By taking control of the shrine, the Antiochian church transformed the Jewish brothers into “true proto-martyrs of Christian faith” (104). Hahn makes this much explicit; however, the structure of his chapter is unclear and this obscures his arguments. For example, there are no headings to indicate when one section transitions to the next and no introduction to lay out the various points he is making. Instead, Hahn uses continuous prose to provide an overview of the religious situation in Antioch and the sources of the Maccabean story. Unfortunately, the various elements do not cohere into a clear meta-narrative. Instead, Hahn ends with a fairly weak thesis: that the Antiochian church usurped the story of the Maccabean brothers in a context of intense religious competition. Hahn’s argument would be more convincing if he detailed how and why this transformation occurred.