the crucifixion of jesus

HISTORY, MYTH, FAITH

Gerard S. Sloyan

Fortress Press/Minneapolis

Frontispiece: One of the oldest known representations of the crucifixion.

Wooden doors of the church of Santa Sabina, Rome, 422–32.

THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS

History, Myth, Faith

Copyright © 1995 Augsburg Fortress Publishers. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write to: Permissions, Augsburg Fortress, 426 S. Fifth St., Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.

Cover graphic: “It Is Finished,” by Sandra Bowden, painter and print maker, living in Clifton Park, N.Y. Used by permission of the artist.

Cover design: Ann Elliot Artz

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data

Sloyan, Gerard Stephen, 1919–

The crucifixion of Jesus: history, myth, faith / Gerard S. Sloyan.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8006-2930-2 (hard).—ISBN 0-8006-2886-1 (pbk.)

1. Jesus Christ—Crucifixion. 2. Jesus Christ—Passion—Role of Jews. 3. Satisfaction for sin. 4. Crosses—Cult. I. Title.

BT453.S635 1995

232.96′3—dc20

95–2480

CIP

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Crucifixion and Why Jesus Was Sentenced to It

The Ancient View of Crucifixion • The Christian Presentation of Jesus’ Mode of Death • The Torture of Crucifixion • Who Was Crucified and Why • The Roman Crucifixion of Jesus and the New Testament • Did the Jews Crucify? • Why Was Jesus Sentenced to Death? • The Development of the Passion Narratives • The Historical Core of Jesus’ Last Hours and the Gospels • Basic Elements of Mark’s Passion Story • Departures from Mark in the Other Gospels • A Tentative Judgment on Motives • How Mark’s Trial and Passion Account Was Framed • Jesus’ Temple Predictions as the Cause of His Undoing • The Ambiguous Passion Accounts and Their Emergent Theme • Conclusion

2. How Jesus’ Death Came to Be Seen as Sacrificial and Redemptive

The Crucifixion-Resurrection in Paul’s Letters • The Pre-Pauline Tradition: A Redemptive Death • Why Call a Crucified Man Israel’s Anointed King? • The Earliest Recall of Jesus’ Sayings • “The Christ”—But a Crucified One? • Do We Have Jesus’ View of Why He Died? • The Maccabean Martyrs as Paradigm of Jesus’ Death • The Bible and Expiation by the Deaths of Others • The Inspiration of Paul’s Soteriology • Tracking Paul’s Usage Further • How the Cross Came to Be Seen as Redemptive

3. Patristic Attribution of Jesus’ Death to the Jews

Some New Testament Data Reviewed • From the Didache to Justin • Irenaeus and Melito • Tertullian, Clement, Origen • Eusebius and Fourth-Century Church Fathers • Pope Gregory the Great • Conclusion

4. Theories of Expiation and Satisfaction: From Tertullian to Anselm and Beyond

The Blood of the Cross as Transcendent Symbol • Does the New Testament Have a Theory of Reconciliation? • The Cross and Resurrection as Redemptive in the Second Century • The Third Century: ...