Christian cross: Encyclopedia II - Christian cross - Alternative theological views of the cross

Christian cross - Alternative theological views of the cross

A number of Christian Anabaptist theologians including John H. Yoder and Walter Wink suggest an alternative reading of the cross in Jesus's teaching. Instead of seeing Jesus instructions to "take up the cross" as simply a spiritual call to endure suffering, they interpret the phrase as a call to a life of radical Christian discipleship that may end in death at the hands of the state. For these theologians, accepting the possibility of crucifixion (often the penalty for political prisoners in Roman times) means rejecting the use of violence as well. This view would be most prevalent among Mennonites and other Peace churches with a history of martyrdom. This view is for the most part shared by Roman Catholic and Orthodox theologians, with the exception that they do not completely reject the use of violence.

Since the 1930s Jehovah's Witnesses have taught that Christ died suspended not on a cross, but on a torture stake. The New Testament word for cross is stauros, which can refer either to a cross or to a single upright position stake without a crossbeam; Jehovah's Witnesses accept the latter meaning to be the only one at the time of the crucifixion, the former one being assumed by the word at later times. They also point to the use of the Greek xy'lon to refer to the instrument of execution in the Greek Scriptures, as well as in Ezra 6:11 (Septuagint). Meaning wood or timber in general, xy'lon is also used to describe the weapons held by the mob arresting Jesus. They hold the use of the cross in worship to be a pagan activity and the veneration of the stauros inappropriate. Cruciform symbols do antedate Christianity; see cross for more information.

For Muslims, and Jews the symbol of the Cross or Religious Icons are sacrilegious as God cannot be depicted in any physical form. For more on Jesus see Non-Christian perspectives on Jesus

According to Vine "...Both the noun [stauros] and the verb stauroo, "to fasten to a stake or pale," are originally to be distinguish form the ecclesiastical form of a two-beamed 'cross.' The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the 'cross' of Christ" p. 138.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Alternative theological views of the cross", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki