Title
The Cross : history, art, and controversy / Robin M. Jensen.
ISBN
9780674979284 (electronic book)
0674979281 (electronic book)
9780674088801
0674088808
Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, [2017]
Copyright
©2017
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (x, 270 pages) : illustrations
Item Number
40026989231
Call Number
BV160 .J46 2017eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
246/.558
Summary
The cross stirs intense feelings among Christians as well as non-Christians. Robin Jensen takes readers on an intellectual and spiritual journey through the two-thousand-year evolution of the cross as an idea and an artifact, illuminating the controversies--along with the forms of devotion--this central symbol of Christianity inspires. Jesus's death on the cross posed a dilemma for Saint Paul and the early Church fathers. Crucifixion was a humiliating form of execution reserved for slaves and criminals. How could their messiah and savior have been subjected to such an ignominious death? Wrestling with this paradox, they reimagined the cross as a triumphant expression of Christ's sacrificial love and miraculous resurrection. Over time, the symbol's transformation raised myriad doctrinal questions, particularly about the crucifix--the cross with the figure of Christ--and whether it should emphasize Jesus's suffering or his glorification. How should Jesus's body be depicted: alive or dead, naked or dressed? Should it be shown at all? Jensen's wide-ranging study focuses on the cross in painting and literature, the quest for the "true cross" in Jerusalem, and the symbol's role in conflicts from the Crusades to wars of colonial conquest. The Cross also reveals how Jews and Muslims viewed the most sacred of all Christian emblems and explains its role in public life in the West today.-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Description based on print version record.
Scandalum crucis: the curse of the cross
Signum crucis: the sign of the son of man
Inventio crucis: discovery, dispersion, and commemoration of the cross
Crux abscondita: the late emerging crucifix
Adoratio crucis: monumental crosses and feasts of the cross
Carmina crucis: the cross in poetry, legend, and liturgical drama
Crux patiens: medieval devotion to the dying Christ
Crux invicta: the cross in the Reformation period
Crux perdurans: the cross in the New World, Islam, and the modern era.
