Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 9
The speaker calls it “a very sad use” that Revolutionary troops seized 300 unbound German Martyrs’ Mirrors and used about half as paper for cannons and muskets; what does that specific incident reveal about how revolutionary zeal can treat the memory of Christian martyrdom, and how might it expose a deep conflict between the “martyr church” and a “war church”?
Another way to ask: What does using Martyrs’ Mirror pages as gun paper show about how war passion can treat the stories of Christian martyrs? How does it show a clash between a “martyr church” and a “war church”?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The incident shows revolutionary necessity and zeal could override reverence for Christian witness, turning a book about suffering faithfulness into material for killing; the speaker treats this as a tragic symbol of conflict between a church shaped by martyrdom and a church willing to wage war.
- He says troops went to the Ephrata Cloister and took “300 unbound German martyrs’ mirror…for paper.”
- “Approximately half of those martyrs' mirrors were used in cannons and muskets.”
- He adds the community later bought back about half, but half were still “used in war.”
- He gives his moral evaluation: “in my mind, a very sad use of the martyrs' mirror to be killing people.”
- The context is wartime supply needs: both armies needed supplies, including “paper for their guns and cannons.”