Martyrdom would seem to be an impossible entry point in ecumenical discussions between Christian faiths, since it represents an extreme and unbending assertion of one truth against the implicit falsity of competing claims. The essays in Martyrdom in an ecumenical perspective, however, seek to understand if not necessarily unite the faiths of Anabaptism and Catholicism by exploring their common, if still incongruent, heritage of Christian prosecution, persecution and martyrdom. Two conferences of Catholic and Mennonite scholars, held in 2003 and 2004, initiated the eleven papers contained in the volume, which ranges widely and represents an attempt to extend and reconsider traditional notions of martyrdom in order that further ‘conversation’ between multi-confessional scholars (or scholars of multi-confessions) can proceed. The book begins with an introduction by Brad Gregory, who makes the distinction between ‘persecution’ and ‘prosecution’ in the context of the early modern era: the former is not fully defined, though it presumably refers to the large-scale, oppressive pursuit of heretics that should be rightly condemned, with the latter constituting an historically-justifiable religious duty to judicially pursue heretics in the name of religious truth and Christian duty. In addition, distinctions are made and the tensions brought out between ‘social ecumenism’ and ‘doctrinal ecumenism’, or between the tolerant acceptance of other Churches and the more apparently insurmountable barriers of doctrinal and ecclesiastical difference. The terms might be reconfigured but the ideas are not necessarily new (see the work of Geoffrey Wainwright, John Howard Yoder and others); still, it engenders three fruitful responses that elaborate upon or critique Gregory from a Mennonite as well as Catholic perspective. Subsequent essays discuss the distinct Mennonite emphasis on martyrdom as an essential part of ‘group identity’ and also possible outreach; the appropriation of martyrs by other faiths and the creation of ‘ecumenical martyrologies’; the nature of the martyr's death and the truth; and the relationship between martyrdom and ecclesiology. Memories of the martyrs constitute an underlying thread throughout the volume, with ‘healing’ arising from placing all martyrs under one common ‘memory’ of Christian discipleship. Much of this volume represents a preliminary contribution to historically-informed Catholic and Anabaptist dialogue, and as such conveys a struggling towards, if not full achievement of, its ecumenical goals. Yet it is nevertheless significant in adding a Mennonite presence to the debate, and is to be welcomed in bringing faiths and historians of faith together in mutual understanding of their respective, martyred ‘cloud of witnesses’ (Hebrews xxii. 1).