Description: Upending a longstanding consensus, Bruce W. Longenecker presents a wide variety of material artifacts to illustrate that Christians made use of the cross as a visual symbol of their faith long before Constantine appropriated it to consolidate his power in the fourth century. 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.
Brief description:
Bruce W. Longenecker is professor of early Christianity and W. W. Melton Chair of Religion at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, having formerly taught in Britain at St. Andrews, Cambridge, and Durham Universities. Some of his recent books include The Lost Letters of Pergamum (2002); Rhetoric at the Boundaries (2005); and Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and the Greco-Roman World (2010).