The Cross Quotes

“Showing Christ as African, Asian, or Central American underlines the universality of his humanity. The depiction of the Holy Spirit as a hummingbird rather than a dove on the Mexican cruz de ánimas (Fig. 9.2) is a modest but striking instance of using meaningful visual language for a particular culture.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Marc Chagall’s White Crucifixion (1938) was painted shortly after Kristallnacht—the horrifying, widespread Nazi raid on German Jews. The painting shows a world swallowed up by violence, including the figure of Christ on the cross with a Jewish prayer shawl draped around his loins.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Feminist critique of the cross as a symbol has been a hallmark of modern theology, as writers have argued that the image of the crucifixion has been used as a justification for abuse and even violence against women and marginalized peoples. The argument focuses on the way that the traditional Christian emphasis on Christ’s suffering has been used to encourage meek and submissive self-sacrifice (especially of women) or simply to validate and even glorify suffering more generally. Some even take the position that the cross and the medieval atonement theory that lauded it are sadomasochistic.34 A more widespread view among feminist theologians is that Christian theology has been suffused with patriarchal values and often used to oppress women and that Jesus’s admonition to “take up your cross” could be understood as a justification for tolerating abuse.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“A particular problem arises around the meaning of the words “made to appear so to them.” Muslim scholars have considered the implications: If Jesus only appeared to be crucified, what actually happened? The classical commentaries contain conflicting interpretations.21 Several of these recount the legend that someone whom God made to look like Jesus was crucified in Jesus’s place, either voluntarily or mistakenly. In one case, this was a faithful disciple. In another, Jesus’s likeness was given to Judas, making him pay the ultimate price for his betrayal.22 This story of a substitute victim has some parallels with early gnostic traditions that Simon of Cyrene died in Christ’s stead.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Widely made for personal devotion, these cruces de ánimas were banned by church authorities in the nineteenth century, as they were concerned that such crosses might have been used for sorcery or witchcraft.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“The Mayan people had a different kind of encounter with the Christian cross. According to a legendary Mayan prophet, Chilam Balam, the arrival of white conquerors would be presaged by a cross symbol. The conquerors naturally interpreted this prophecy as a divine message that the Maya should renounce their own gods, convert to Christianity, and submit to Spanish rule. Analysis of the authenticity of this prophecy (and of the existence of Chilam Balam) has suggested that the claim, rather than a wholly fabricated justification for colonial subjugation of the natives, contains a kernel of truth.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Aztec religion practiced human sacrifice, understanding it to be both a form of oblation to the gods and a means of deification for the victims. The crucifixion therefore made a certain kind of sense by analogy and the cross was thus incorporated into this sacrificial narrative. Nahua (Aztec) converts could comprehend a crucified god, self-offered to a yet-higher deity.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“In eerily similar fashion, Hernán Cortés and his conquering Spanish army fled from Cuba and landed on the east coast of Mexico on Good Friday, 1519. Perhaps because of that auspicious date, Cortés named his first colonial settlement the City of the True Cross (Veracruz).”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“While both Muslims and Jews in the Old World recognized the cross as a unique—and negatively charged—emblem of Christian political and religious power, the indigenous peoples of the Americas, specifically those living in central Mexico, possessed a symbol that looked quite similar to the cross and shared some of its positive significations, insofar as it represented the four cardinal directions of the cosmos and functioned as a sign of life. This symbol eventually became merged with the Christian cross, though in a kind of syncretized way, retaining much of its original cultural and religious significance.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Christian preoccupation with Christ’s suffering on the cross is bewildering to members of other faith traditions, including Buddhists who seek to rise above bodily existence and transcend all forms of physical suffering. Jews, of course, reject Jesus’s identification as the Messiah, largely because they believe he did not fulfill messianic prophecies but also, according to scripture, his form of death was accursed (Deut. 21:22–23). Although Muslims regard the cross as a symbol of Christianity and may connect it with historical instances of Christian aggression, unlike Jews, they accept Jesus as a prophet. In addition, while their sacred texts recount the story of Christ’s condemnation to die on the cross, Muslims deny that he actually underwent crucifixion.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“The stations begin with Pilate’s condemnation and end with Jesus’s burial, but traditionally include some episodes that are not found in the New Testament. Because of this variance from scripture, in 1975, Pope Paul VI authorized a new set of stations based more closely on the Gospels, beginning at the last supper and ending with the resurrection. While the stations are ordinarily accompanied by pictorial illustrations, an absolute requirement is that each includes the figure of the cross.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“A famous instance of this kind of abuse comes from Basel in 1529, when a mob carried a crucifix from the church, through the streets, and into the marketplace, tossing it onto a bonfire while a particularly zealous citizen exclaimed, “If you are God, help yourself; if you are man, then bleed!”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“This moderate and restrained removal of images gradually gave way to more active iconoclasm. Inevitably, the crucifix became targeted for destruction. As an object used for personal devotion and veneration, it was—to certain reformers’ minds—particularly inclined to lead the faithful into idolatrous acts and so especially deserving of desecration (or perhaps more aptly, ritual purification). In Advent of 1526, the gilded cross—possibly a gift from Charlemagne—that had been a prominent adornment of the Strasbourg Cathedral was removed and probably melted down to provide alms for the city’s poor.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Cranach was one of Martin Luther’s close allies and, in the mid-sixteenth century, he produced altarpieces for Lutheran churches in Wittenburg, Weimar, Schneeburg, Kemberg, Regensburg, and Dessau. Unlike other reformers, Luther never forbade images, especially of the crucifixion, and many of Cranach’s paintings and altarpieces functioned as didactic exercises, almost schematic diagrams of Lutheran soteriology.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Understanding what prompted the change from a glorious and victorious depiction of Christ’s Passion to a representation of his human torment and death is a subject of much debate, but it must have been rooted at least partially in the desire for (or belief in) a compassionate and merciful deity who comprehends and even experiences human physical pain. The example of the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald is a case in point. Painted to adorn the chapel of a hospital that served those suffering from a deadly illness that caused their bodies to break out in excruciating sores, the artist chose to show Christ suffering from similar outbreak.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Although Pope Urban called for a crusade in order to free the Holy Land from the control of Muslim Turks, one of the tragic results of the call to crusade was the persecution of the Jews who lived near or along the routes to Jerusalem. Presumably, the crusaders, impatient to vent their hostility against distant religious enemies, chose those near to hand as they went on their way. For Jews who found themselves attacked as convenient (and more vulnerable) Christ-killers, the cross was a symbol of Christian hatred. Despite efforts by some secular and religious leaders, Jews, particularly those in the Rhineland, were violently massacred or forcibly baptized by crusaders seeking to avenge the death of Christ on those they found closer to home. Thus, the war against the infidel was fought before the crusaders ever reached the Holy Land, and the first and perhaps most tragic casualties were the Jews living in their own cities and towns.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Distinctive crusader crosses also distinguished national contingents. According to Jonathan Riley-Smith, at the planning meeting for the Third Crusade (1189–1192), the French decided to wear red crosses, the English white, and the Flemish green.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Underlying all this controversy was a characteristically Western debate over holy images. The Opus Caroli Regis allowed veneration to be extended to certain material objects that it termed “res sacratae” (holy things). Among these were the Ark of the Covenant, saints’ relics, the consecrated eucharistic elements, the sign of the cross (but not its physical representation), and the Bible—objects regarded as having been sanctified by God and capable of mediating God’s presence or power.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Thus, the Opus Caroli Regis, while provoked by the decrees of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, is better understood as a document that addressed concerns regarding the role of religious images in Frankish territories. While condemning superstitious adoration of icons, the document also decries the actual destruction of religious images that have even limited pedagogical or decorative value. Yet, although the work equally denounced both iconoclasts and iconophiles, it ultimately contributed to the condemnation of Nicaea II at the synod of Frankfurt in 794, albeit over Pope Hadrian’s official ratification of the Council’s decrees”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Such elaborations of the story necessarily added extensively to the Gospel narratives and their realism would have stimulated strong responses in an audience, prompting them to weep, even cry out in outrage. The tendency to confuse the drama with reality often aroused anti-Jewish prejudice when they presented the crucifixion as a perfidious plot of Jews against Christ.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“These stories, their parallel motifs, and related illuminations demonstrate not only a Christian fascination with the source of the sacred wood of the cross but also the firm conviction that it, as the wood upon which salvation was accomplished, must have been directly linked with the Edenic tree that figured in the fall and expulsion of humans from Paradise. In Hades, Adam can convey the good news to his descendants that the once-forbidden fruit has been transformed into life-giving food. That the tree of life should return to fulfill its original purpose completes the circuit of creation, loss, death, and resurrection.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“In later renditions of the Life of Adam and Eve, the archangel Michael gives Seth a twig from the tree as a consolation prize, which he carries back to place on Adam’s grave. The twig grows up to be a lofty tree and, in time, is hewn down and becomes Christ’s cross. This legendary detail occurs in other early medieval stories. The long-standing tradition that the site of Jesus’s crucifixion, Golgotha, was so named because it was over the site of Adam’s grave gave this story a biblical basis.28 This is why a skull regularly appears at the base of the cross in Christian iconography of the crucifixion.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“The Irish examples are particularly ancient and justifiably famous, as they display some of the most intricate and well-preserved reliefs. Conceivably modeled after smaller objects of wood or metal, their purpose is unclear. Some scholars believe they were intended to identify a particularly holy place, such as a saint’s grave. Others argue that they marked monastery foundations, distinguished boundaries, and graves or simply served as devotional monuments or village landmarks (for example, market crosses).”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“What makes this particularly remarkable is the link between the object and the text. The poem speaks in the first-person voice of the cross and, in this case, the actual stone cross voices its own story (albeit in carved runes).”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Now you may hear, beloved hero, how I had to abide the deeds of bullies, sorrowful cares. The time has now come that people on this plain far and wide and all this wondrous creation worship me, pray to this sign. On me God’s Son suffered a time; thus glorious I now tower under the heavens, and I may heal all and some of those in awe of me.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“In the central section of the poem, Christ is a young hero, willingly embracing his crucifixion, even running up to and climbing upon the cross. The cross wills itself not to bend or break but to remain steadfast as it is raised from the ground. The cross thus not only witnesses but also shares in Christ’s suffering, being pierced with nails and covered with blood. Like Christ, the cross is buried after Jesus’s death. And while Christ is resurrected, the cross is itself—in time—exhumed from its pit. Like the victorious Christ, the rediscovered cross receives its own kind of glory and honor, enshrined with gold, silver, and jewels. It is venerated above all other trees as the tree of life.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“The third section tells the rest of the story also from the cross’s perspective, vividly elaborating its feelings as it is pierced with nails, spat upon, then cast aside. The poem concludes when the original narrator awakens. The cross charges him to hold it in awe, share the vision with others, and to follow the path to righteousness.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“The tree of life motif is especially prominent in the medieval poem “The Dream of the Rood.” Probably first written in the late seventh or early eighth century, the extant version of this Anglo-Saxon epic poem was discovered among a collection of other Old English religious literature in the Cathedral library at Vercelli in northern Italy. The text recounts the Passion from the cross’s point of view, making it the chronicler of its own story, starting from its youth as a green sapling, and concluding with its being hewn down and fashioned into the instrument of crucifixion.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“the tree of life motif became more elaborate in the art of the high and late Middle Ages.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy

“Similar in some respects to the Ravenna sarcophagi are stone crosses found in Armenia and Georgia. Although the earliest date from the ninth century, such crosses continue to be made into the modern period. These memorial steles, called khachkars, typically display crosses enclosed within interlacing designs of vines, fruit, and flowers. The cross’s arms generally flare and are tipped with buds. Only a few of the later examples show a corpus on the cross.”
― Robin M. Jensen, The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy