Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross

by Mark S. Heim

That ambiguity, even at this distance, tells us something about the situation Christians faced. To present the cross as a positive sign of their faith ran many risks, from seeming to endorse Jesus' death (and that Christians would practice human sacrifice, or desire such an end for themselves) to being taken as incitement to violence (i.e., Jesus' death was wrong and the fate of the victim is displayed as a call to retaliation against those who opposed him, then or now).' The frequent appearance of anchors, ship masts, and the Chi-Rho sign in early Christian art as discreet representations of the cross avoided these risks. It may not be coincidental that we have no images of Christ on the cross until after Constantine outlawed crucifixion as an actual mode of execution. So long as such a death was a regular occurrence, a Christian display of the picture could readily be misunderstood by outsiders as a threat from authorities or as a pattern Christians sought to repeat.