The career of the cross as the basic symbol of Christianity is astonishing: It made its way from an image of shame to a sign of triumph, from a critical figure directed against human claims of power and glory to an affirmation of those claims. Antagonistic interpretations of the cross within the political framework of the Roman empire on the one hand and the apologetic enterprise to establish the cross for a pagan audience as a symbol of social and cosmic order on the other stand side by side. The article traces the former path from Paul's "word of the cross" in 1Cor 1 and the Gospel of Mark to Marcion and the Gnostics, and the latter one (rooted in the scenario of Christ crucified triumphant over the powers and regaining control over the cosmos as praised in the letter to the Colossians) along the line of 2nd and 3rd century Fathers. The wide range of interpretations of the cross in early Christianity demonstrates the polymorphism of the Christian religion between the polar concepts of creation and redemption.

Enthalten in:
Theologische Literaturzeitung; 2011/7/8 Monatsschrift für das gesamte Gebiet der Theologie und Religionswissenschaft (2011)

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Serie / Reihe: Theologische Literaturzeitung

Personen: Vogel, Manuel

Schlagwörter: Theologia crucis