Crucifixion And Resurrection Analysis

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What an excellent and informative view on the crucifixion and resurrection! Thank you for this!
When John Crossan speaks of the demographics of those who would have been crucified by the Romans I was struck by the similarities between this form of punishment and the circumstances of slaves in the United States. Crossan uses the appropriate term state terrorism to describe the enforcement of submission over the lower class and slave class in the Roman Empire, though we normally do not include these classes—or punishments such as burning and being eaten by animals—in the telling and retelling of the crucifixion story of Jesus. What we find when we study crucifixion within its cultural context it its use as a warning to subordinate groups who may consider challenging the present authority of government, slave owners, or upper-class citizens. This casts a completely different light on the practice.
Digging deeper into the burial customs also helps us understand why Roman officials would completely destroy the bodies of those who were executed, since the ritual of burial was so important at the time (and still
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I remember watching a film where a man was assembling small wooden crucifixes. When it was finally time to attach Jesus he paused, hammer and nail hovering above the tiny metal hand, unsure whether to proceed. It makes more sense to me, thinking that someone was poking fun at another’s beliefs, only to be found later and given a meaning that did not really exist. I am not sure we will ever know what early Jesus followers thought of the cross. If I had been in charge of it I would have tied the crucifixion and resurrection together by creating a cross with Jesus smiling up at the sky—it just makes more sense to me that way. It certainly would reflect more accurately the ‘God veto’ of