The Quest for the True Cross - Softcover

Carsten Peter; D'Ancona Thiede; Matthew D'Ancona

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0753810824 ISBN 13: 9780753810828

Publisher: Phoenix, 2000

Synopsis

The Cross is arguably the most recognizable symbol of Western civilization. But what are its historical origins and what happened to it after Christ's crucifixion? In a church outside Rome, a fragment of wood may hold the answer to these questions and could be fundamental to our understanding of Christianity. Focusing on a long-ignored fragment of the Titulus Crucis-the inscribed headboard from Christ's cross-the authors provide evidence that it may date from the time of Christ and was brought to Rome by Queen Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, in AD 328. Their claim is a radical challenge to the modern view that all supposedly holy relics are fakes. Following in Helena's footsteps and drawing together the threads of history, archaeology, myth, religion, and science, this journey through the ancient world may transform your beliefs about early Christian faith.

About this title

About the Author

CARSTEN PETER THIEDE, German papyrologist, who ran the Institute of German Studies in London, produced documentaries for BBC TV and is now director of the Institute for Basic Epistemological Research at Paderborn, Germany. MATTHEW D'ANCONA, formerly a senior editor on The Times, is now deputy editor of the Sunday Telegraph.

From Publishers Weekly

When did Christians begin to venerate the cross of Jesus? Thiede and d'Ancona, who stirred up controversy about the dating of the Gospels in The Jesus Papyrus, challenge the prevailing scholarly opinion that the cross became a central symbol only after the emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century. According to legend, Constantine sent his mother to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where she excavated and brought back to Rome the Titulus Crucis, or the headboard of the cross on which was written the words "King of the Jews." Using philological, literary and archeological evidence, the authors argue against this legend, claiming instead that the earliest Christians must have begun a tradition of venerating Jesus' cross. For example, they find the Chi-Rho symbol in papyri from the second century, and on a shard from Bethsaida from the first century. In their view, such discoveries support the claim that the cross functioned as a key symbol in pre-Constantinian Christianity. In addition, the authors discover the Titulus Crucis in a church in Rome and use the same tools to suggest a "plausible if unprovable" chronology of the life of this relic. Unfortunately, the book's tone is often arrogant and condescending to any scholars who hold beliefs other than the authors'. Moreover, it is plagued by so much repetition that it would have been more appropriate as a journal article. Overall, the authors' case appears rather thin, using scanty evidence to make definitive assertions about the True Cross.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Phoenix
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0753810824
• ISBN 13: 9780753810828
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320