Crucifixion: In the Ancient World and the Foll of the Message of the Cross

Martin Hengel

Jan 1977 · Fortress Press

About this ebook

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 death, he underwent the most contemptible abasement that could be imagined. So repugnant was the gruesome reality, that a natural tendency prevails to blunt, remove, or deomesticate its scandalous impact. Yet any discussion of a "theology of the cross" must be preceded by adequate comprehension of both the nature and extent of this scandal.

Ratings and reviews

A great topic that is very thoroughly researched. However, the book is extremely frustrating to navigate due to the following: 1) Excessive amount of non-English vocabulary (Latin and Greek) 2) Poor formatting 3) Notes and references are given as footnotes rather than given separately at the back of the book. 4) The author does not give any background information on any of the historical characters he cites and assumes that the reader is familiar with all of their names and works. 5) The author has approached the writing of this book as a complete "information dump", rather than trying to take better care in making it an easier read for his audience. The only saving grace for the book is the final chapter where the author summarizes all his findings. Rather than going through the entire book, just reading the summary chapter would be more than sufficient. All this merits the book no more than 1/5 stars. ⭐

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About the author

Martin Hengel is Emeritus Professor of New Testament and Early Judaism at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Among his many important books are Judaism and Hellenism (1974), Between Jesus and Paul (1983), Crucifixion (1977), The Atonement (1981), and Property and Riches in the Early Church (1974), all published by Fortress Press.