The Christian cross is a familiar religious symbol of Christianity. It is significant for Christians based on the gospel accounts of the New Testament, which describe the manner of Jesus Christ's death as crucifixion. This painful method of execution was common for slaves and non-Romans convicted of serious crimes in the Roman Empire.
The type of cross actually used by Romans for crucifixion is now known as St. Anthony's Cross, shaped like the letter "T", unlike the traditionally depicted Latin cross.
Christian cr ...
The cross is often shown in different shapes and sizes, in many different styles. It may be used in personal jewelry, or used on top of church buildings. It is shown both empty, and with the body of Christ (corpus) nailed to it, in which case it is typically called a crucifix. Roman Catholic depictions of the cross are often crucifixes, in order to emphasize Christ's sacrifice; but many Protestant traditions depict the cross witho ...
During the first three centuries of Christianity, the cross was rare in Christian iconography as it depicts a purposely painful and gruesome method of public execution by impalement and/or exposure. The Ichthys, or fish symbol, was used by early Christians to covertly identify each other. The Chi-Rho monogram, which was adopted by the emperor Constantine in the fourth century as his banner called the lab ...
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 a ...
During the first three centuries of Christianity, the cross was rare in Christian iconography as it depicts a purposely painful and gruesome method of public execution by impalement. The Ichthys, or fish symbol, was used by early Christians to covertly identify each other. The Chi-Rho monogram, which was adopted by the emperor Constantine in the fourth century as his banner called the labarum, was an Early Christian symbol of wider use.
Descriptions of the cross are to be found in Christian writings from the early 2nd century o ...
