Jesus may not have died on the cross, Christian scholar claims
Posted: May 30, 2011 Filed under: Christianity 2 Comments »
Jesus may not have died nailed to the cross because there is no evidence that the Romans crucified prisoners two thousand years ago, a scholar has claimed.
The legend of his execution is based on the traditions of the Christian church and artistic illustrations rather than antique texts, according to theologian Gunnar Samuelsson.
He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted as there are no explicit references the use of nails or to crucifixion – only that Jesus bore a ‘staurus’ towards Calvary which is not necessarily a cross but can also mean a ‘pole’.
Mr Samuelsson, of Gothenburg University, said: ‘Consequently, the contemporary understanding of crucifixion as a punishment is severely challenged.
‘And what’s even more challenging is the same can be concluded about the accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus. The New Testament doesn’t say as much as we’d like to believe.’
Any evidence that Jesus was left to die after being nailed to a cross is strikingly sparse – both in the ancient pre-Christian and extra-Biblical literature as well as The Bible.
He said: ‘The overwhelming number of texts only offer a noun “stauros” or a verb “anastauroun” or “anaskolopizein”. In almost every dictionary these terms are said to mean “cross” or “to crucify”.
‘But as I show in my thesis they are used in a much wider sense than that. The verbs refer to some kind of suspension of a human being – living or dead – while the noun refer to the suspension device used in such suspension.’
Mr Samuelsson, a committed Christian himself, admitted his claims are so close to the heart of his faith that it is easy to react emotionally instead of logically.
He said: ‘My question deals with the traditional understanding of the death of Jesus – that He carried a cross-beam toward Calvary, but since he could not stand the burden of the cross a passer-by was forced to carry it for him.
‘On Calvary the rest of the cross was awaiting, that the two parts were conjoined and Jesus was then nailed to the crucifix-like cross.
‘As a matter of fact these text are strikingly silent when it comes to depict the actual event. The texts say that Jesus carried a stauros, which has a much wider usage in antiquity than just referring to a “cross”, towards Calvary, to be “stauroun” – which is used in a much wider sense that just “to crucify”.
‘The text is silent about why Jesus carried a stauros, what that looked like – was it the whole execution tool or just a part such as the cross-beam – and why a passer-by was forced to carry it for Jesus.’
Mr Samuelsson said the actual execution texts do not describe how Christ was attached to the execution device.
He said: ‘This is the heart of the problem. The text of the passion narratives is not that exact and information loaded, as we Christians sometimes want it to be. If you are looking for texts that depict the act of nailing persons to a cross you will not find any beside the Gospels.’
Mr Samuelsson said: ‘That a man named Jesus existed in that part of the world and in that time is well-documented. He left a rather good foot-print in the literature of the time.
‘I do believe that the mentioned man is the son of God. My suggestion is not that Christians should reject or doubt the biblical text.
‘My suggestion is that we should read the text as it is, not as we think it is. We should read on the lines, not between the lines. The text of the Bible is sufficient. We do not need to add anything.’
Article published here
Isa 53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,yet we considered him stricken by God,smitten by him, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Jn 19:31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.
Jn 19:32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.
Jn 19:33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
Jn 19:34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
Jn 19:35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.
Jn 19:36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”
Jn 19:37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
Rev 1:7 Look, he is coming with the clouds,and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him;and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
This is an interesting topic. I look into this debate and
right off the bat I found the problem. it is in use of the
mistranslation the Greek word “stauros That was used in the topic. even
Gunnar Samuelsson who researched for three years, as he claimed. it took me only a
few hours with the help of the Lord Jesus to solve this debate. here’s
the problem. in the use of the word, out of his own mouth of research he
stated that the Word means this, “stauros” to mean crucifix, when really the term just means a suspension device,
which might have been anything such as a “pole or a tree trunk.”. by
looking at his own definition, a child could see the mistake. the answer
is this, the, “stauros”, as the defination states was a suspension device, that all, so the question now is what was suspended on it. the answer, the patibulum, or crossbeam. see the mistake, the “patibulum was suspended by the “stauros”, or suspension device, the “stauros” as the researcher states it is a suspension device.
so the patibulum was suspended by the “stauros” device, which is a
stake or pole. so by crossing the patibulum/crossbeam with the
stake/stauros, you have the classic cross that is in art.
you can see what I’m talking about at this web site
The patibulum
https://www.google.com/search?q=patibulum&hl=en&rls=com.mic…
also you need to read about this type of Crucifixion at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion