| The Cross before Constantine: The Early Life of a Christian Symbol Contributor(s): Longenecker, Bruce W. (Author) |
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ISBN: 1451490305 ISBN-13: 9781451490305 Publisher: Fortress Press OUR PRICE: $37.05 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2015 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Biblical Studies - History & Culture - Religion | Antiquities & Archaeology - Religion | Biblical Criticism & Interpretation - General |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 5.9" W x 8.9" (0.85 lbs) 244 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This book brings together, for the first time, the relevant material evidence demonstrating Christian use of the cross prior to Constantine. Bruce W. Longenecker upends a longstanding consensus that the cross was not a Christian symbol until Constantine appropriated it to consolidate his power in the fourth century. Longenecker presents a wide variety of artifacts from across the Mediterranean basin that testify to the use of the cross as a visual symbol by some pre-Constantinian Christians. Those artifacts interlock with literary witnesses from the same period to provide a consistent and robust portrait of the cross as a pre-Constantinian symbol of Christian devotion. The material record of the pre-Constantinian period illustrates that 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. |