The Cross before Constantine
The Cross before Constantine

Author: Bruce W. Longenecker

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2015-08-01

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1506400361

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Upending a longstanding consensus, Bruce W. Longenecker presents a wide variety of material artifacts to illustrate that Christians made use of the cross as a visual symbol of their faith long before Constantine appropriated it to consolidate his power in the fourth century. Constantine did not invent the cross as a symbol of Christian faith; for an impressive number of Christians before Constantine’s reign, the cross served as a visual symbol of commitment to a living deity in a dangerous world.

Constantine's Sword
Constantine's Sword

Author: James Carroll

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 774

ISBN-13: 9780618219087

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A rare book that combines searing passion with a subject that has affected all of our lives. "Chicago Tribune" Novelist, cultural critic, and former priest James Carroll marries history with memoir as he maps the two-thousand-year course of the Church s battle against Judaism and faces the crisis of faith it has sparked in his own life. Fascinating, brave, and sometimes infuriating ("Time"), this dark history is more than a chronicle of religion. It is the central tragedy of Western civilization, its fault lines reaching deep into our culture to create a deeply felt work ("San Francisco Chronicle") as Carroll wrangles with centuries of strife and tragedy to reach a courageous and affecting reckoning with difficult truths."

The Cross Before Constantine
The Cross Before Constantine

Author: Bruce W. Longenecker

Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1451490305

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Upending a longstanding consensus, Bruce W. Longenecker presents a wide variety of material artifacts to illustrate that Christians made use of the cross as a visual symbol of their faith long before Constantine appropriated it to consolidate his power in the fourth century. Constantine did not invent the cross as a symbol of Christian faith; for an impressive number of Christians before Constantines reign, the cross served as a visual symbol of commitment to a living deity in a dangerous world.

The Cross
The Cross

Author: Robin M. Jensen

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2017-04-17

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0674088808

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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.

Defending Constantine
Defending Constantine

Author: Peter J. Leithart

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2010-09-24

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 0830827226

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Peter Leithart weighs what we've been taught about Constantine and claims that in focusing on these historical mirages we have failed to notice the true significance of Constantine and Rome baptized. He reveals how beneath the surface of this contested story there lies a deeper narrative--a tectonic shift in the political theology of an empire--with far-reaching implications.

The Cross
The Cross

Author: George Willard Benson

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2005-04-15

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0486440540

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Facts, legends, customs, and superstitions related to Christianity's most prominent symbol appear in this unique book. It begins centuries before the Christian era, when crosses were pagan emblems, and traces their association with notable events and people. In simple, direct language, the author describes the cross's many forms and uses. 27 black-and-white illustrations.

The Cross in Tradition, History, and Art
The Cross in Tradition, History, and Art

Author: William Wood Seymour

Publisher:

Published: 1897

Total Pages: 538

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"This work discusses the cross throughout history, from prehistoric times to modern day. Found within are chapters entitled: cross before the Christian Era and in prehistoric times; types of the cross; early form and use of the cross; legends of the cross; true cross and its traditionary history; title of the cross; doctrinal teaching of the crucifixion; cross and crucifix in early Christian art; various types of crosses; varieties of the cross; objects with the cross on them; sign of the cross; Puritan objections to the cross; and miscellaneous crosses."--B & N.