It was the Roman writer Tertullian who said, 'The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church'. From its origins, martyrdom has had a particularly honoured place in Christianity. This will be confirmed again in 2020 when the Catholic Church marks the fiftieth anniversary of the canonization of the 40 Catholic Reformation martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Paul VI. The sacrifices of Catholics at the time of the Reformation were matched by those of Anglicans who were also persecuted and executed for their faith, for refusing to renounce it or change to another one.

This book examines the significance of martyrdom for Christians today, particularly for the British, and analyses how churches today deal with past martyrdoms of Christians by other Christians. Pepinster explores how ideas of martyrdom have changed over the centuries and considers what the stories of particular martyrs tell us today. She studies how martyrdom is powerfully connected with the clash between religious beliefs and political creeds, and refers to Thomas Becket and Thomas More, and the confrontation between Nazism and Christianity, and cites more recent examples of Oscar Romero, Dorothy Stang and Martin Luther King. The book also looks at the issue of conscience, ideas about heroism, the role of violence in Christianity and the impact of martyrdom on the arts.

It also considers how martyrdom is perceived today when it is often part of a narrative about religious fundamentalism and terrorist atrocities.