![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Others would imbue it with sacrificial meaning to make sense of how the one claimed as God’s Son would suffer in this way. The apostle Paul describes Jesus’ crucifixion as a “stumbling block” or “scandal” to other Jews. That Jesus suffered such an undignified death was an embarrassment to some early Christians. The types of cross structures might differ, but as a form of execution, crucifixion was brutal and violent, designed to publicly shame the victim by displaying him or her naked on a scaffold, thereby asserting Rome’s power over the bodies of the masses. Slaves, the poor, criminals and political protesters were crucified in their thousands for “crimes” we might today consider minor offences. ![]() While crucifixion included some variety in antiquity, it was typically a form of execution reserved for non-elite, non-citizens in the 1st-century Roman Empire. Part of the answer lies in the nature of crucifixion itself. While some want to credit Emperor Constantine for the use of the cross as becoming more widespread after the 4th century, it is not that simple. Jesus wasn't white: he was a brown-skinned, Middle Eastern Jew. In fact, it took centuries for Christians to begin to depict the cross in their art. Yet the cross was not always the dominant symbol of Christianity that it is now, and would certainly not have been worn as a fashion accessory by early Christians. Jennifer Lopez at the 2018 Met Gala, themed Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. ![]()
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