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Crucifixion: In the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross is unavailable, but you can change that!

In a comprehensive and detailed survey on its remarkably widespread employment in the Roman Empire, Dr. Hengel examines the way in which “the most vile death of the cross” was regarded in the Greek-speaking world and particularly in Roman-occupied Palestine. His conclusions bring out more starkly than ever the offensiveness of the Christian message: Jesus not only died an unspeakably cruel...

or even patibulatus:22 an English equivalent might be ‘gallows-bird’, ‘hang-dog’. The abusive i in malam maximam crucem thus meant something like ‘Be hanged!’23 Varro, Cicero’s contemporary, uses the offensive word crux as a vivid illustration for his etymological theory: lene est auribus cum dicimus ‘voluptas’, asperum cum dicimus ‘crux’ … ipsius verbi asperitas cum doloris quem crux efficit asperitate concordet (to say ‘pleasure’ is gentle on the ears, but to say ‘cross’ is harsh. The harshness
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