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

by John Bowden, Martin Hengel

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 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.

Genres: Theology, History, Christianity, Christian, Biblical Studies, Religion, Nonfiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1977

Reviews

[Dmitri · Rating 4 out of 5]

“My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?”
-Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34

“He who did not spare his only son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?”
-Romans 8:32

************

This study of Jesus’ crucifixion by Martin Hengel, one of the foremost German historians of religion, was published in 1977. It focuses on the “folly” of Christians elevating a man who died in this manner to a deity, an offense in the eyes of early historian Tacitus and his friend Pliny the Younger in the 1st century. Tacitus’ contempt towards the Christians likely dates to trials he presided over as a governor in Asia. They were viewed as a deviant cult worshipping a prisoner who had been put to death by the emperor Tiberius and his governor of Judaea Pontius Pilate. The idea of a ‘dead god’, condemned to death in the most contemptible way, was a contradiction in itself to the religions of Romans, Greeks, Jews and barbarians alike.

Hengel compares Christ’s crucifixion to Greek myths where Zeus sentences Prometheus to be fastened to a rock but is rescued by Heracles. The only possibility of a crucified god would be a form of parody in the ancient world. Gnosticism dealt with this by positing that Christ was not human and his sufferings only apparent. This looks backward to earlier Greek religion where the gods could not themselves be disgraced. When Zeus’s wife Hera was violated it was only a cloud in her shape. For the 2nd century Greek Celsus, who provided a comprehensive criticism of Christianity, Jesus should have revealed his divinity at his capture or on the cross. Paul the Apostle, preaching the death, resurrection and return of Christ was persecuted by all.

Hengel discusses various forms of crucifixion practiced in history, beginning with Persians as described by Herodotus. It was also used by Indians, Assyrians, Scythians and Celts, adopted by Greeks and Romans, and later by Germans and Britons. Plato and Socrates gave earlier accounts of its use. The most detailed descriptions come from the Passion but its use is well attested to in other writings. Dio Cassius confirms the crucifixions of Nero, and Josephus those of Titus at the Jerusalem siege. Seneca argued torments of the cross would make life no longer worth living. During Constantine’s 4th century reign hanging would replace crucifixion as a more humane form of execution. The cross was a slow death by psychological and physical torture.

Cicero argued a case in the 1st century BC where a Roman citizen was executed by crucifixion, in itself a crime against Rome. For lesser crimes burning alive, throwing to the lions and decapitation were used in descending order of severity. Crucifixion was reserved for the lower classes, slaves, non-Romans and barbarians. The cross and death by wild beasts were also employed as ‘entertainment’. Use of the cross was additionally imposed for high crimes such as treason and desertion and applied to rebels and violent criminals as a deterrence. In the views of average Roman citizens wild and unsettled Judaea needed to be quelled by the rule of law and sword, but for the Jews it was a foreign scourge that would topple the Second Temple.

Despite its use for a variety of crimes crucifixion was the typical punishment for slaves. With slaves reaching 30% of Rome’s population in the 1st century BC, after fighting three slave rebellions in the 2nd century BC, there were crucifixion grounds in every city similar to Calvary in Jerusalem. In the Spartacus rebellion of 73 BC Crassus had 6000 slaves nailed to the cross along the Appian Way. The panic over recent slave revolts was extended to foreign religions, not only Christians but astrologers, Isis followers, Celtic druids and practicers of Punic and Carthaginian child sacrifice. The lower classes of Greece and Rome knew what it meant to carry a cross and be nailed to it. It was not an attractive prospect for Christian conversion.

Hengel searches the tomes for non-religious and apolitical figures who died on the cross. He finds Regulus, a Roman general captured in the First Punic War, returning to Rome to exchange prisoners with Carthage counsels the Senate not to agree. Back in Tunisia he is tortured and crucified, as told by Cicero. Then through propaganda he was celebrated in the capital. Seneca saw him as a man who triumphed over the worst terrors of all to became victor over those who had conquered him. Hengel cites cases of crucifixion in Greece but it wasn’t as widespread a practice. In Judaea there isn’t much evidence, except for emulation of Greek justice. Herod is said to have ended the practice of crucifixion, according to near contemporary historian Josephus.

Hengel surmises crucifixion was an imperial form of control and difficult for Jews to accept Jesus’ death as the coming of a messiah. He concludes his study is unfinished as it has not delved into the apostle Paul’s exegesis of the meaning of the cross. His main points were that crucifixion was widely used in antiquity and wasn’t condemned by ruling classes of the time, noting death, torture and terror have increased since. Although it was a political-military punishment it was used on the lower classes above all. Thought to be a deterrent it became a threat to state authority and a sadistic diversion. It had associations with human sacrifice and promoted an idea the wise would only be free in death. It became a story of the solidarity between God and man.

Martin Hengel was conscripted as a Wehrmacht anti-aircraft gunner at age 17. Luckily WWII ended a year later in 1945. After he graduated from a Lutheran university in Heidelberg, qualifying as a parish minister, his father made him join the family clothing manufacturing business. He earned a Phd in 1959, eventually succeeding his professor in 1972. Along the way he learned Latin and ancient Greek and published this book five years later. The book includes references to every period writer I’ve encountered and others I have not, from poets to dramatists, historians, lawyers and philosophers. One might think there’s a Christian agenda at work here, and yet it isn’t apparent in this tour de force. At 120 pages you need to read it to believe it.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short, very scholarly survey of crucifixion, as it was practiced by ancient Romans, Greeks, Persians, and Jews. The Romans especially used it to keep the public fearful, with special targeting of disobedient slaves, in an effort to avert slave revolts through sheer terrorization. Hengel briefly explores how all this affected public perceptions of a man tortured to death like a rebel slave, yet claimed to be the lord of creation.

[Tony Reinke · Rating 5 out of 5]

We’re blessed with several weighty books about the crucifixion of Christ in all its theological and spiritual significance (books like John Stott’s *The Cross of Christ*). But when it comes to explaining the historical use of crucifixion as a culturally repulsive penalty in the Greco-Roman world, this little 90-page book by Hengel is not only worth owning and reading, it’s worth re-reading two or three times over a lifetime. This is one of the most stunning works at making the offense of the cross concrete through careful historical study.

[Nyameye Otoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It feels more than a little strange to a) read a book about Crucifixion at all and b) award said book 5 stars. Frankly, the 5th star is because of the brevity of the work, at under 100 pages! (a godsend for the many, I'm sure, who don't love reading hundreds of pages of dry history).

Anyway - moving on - when the Christian Apostle Paul of Tarsus wrote in the first century:

"When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom [...] I decided to be concerned about nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 Cor. 2:1-2)

Why did he feel it significant to emphasise SPECIFICALLY that he preached Jesus 'crucified'?

And when he said earlier:

"[...] but we preach about a crucified messiah [Christ], a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks [gentiles]." (1 Cor. 1:23)

Exactly how bonkers (see: foolishness) would his, and other early "Christian", "preaching" have appeared to be? What is non-sensical about this to the Greeks?

According to Hengel, quite bonkers, and most of it:

'
The heart of the Christian message, which Paul described as the ”word of the cross”, ran counter not only to Roman political thinking, but to the whole ethos of religion in ancient times and in particular to the ideas of God held by educated people.'

Hengel goes on to describe the case of why this was - Crucifixion was a horrific practice; Crucifixion was (absolutely) not fitting for a God, was (almost certainly) not suitable for a free Roman Citizen, (definitely) contemptible for even the foreigner and therefore reserved for the most despicable or unvalued in ancient civilization - hence it's being known as the 'servile supplicum' (slaves punishment).

He shows that even as a metaphor, or image, the idea or threat of Crucifixion was seen as vulgar and beneath the civilised citizen - even if many still saw it as a totally barbaric but necessary punishment. And this cruel punishment was one which was understood to shame the victim not only in life, but in death also. It is on this basis that Hengel argues that especially for Jews at the time, the cross was not merely a allegorical or theological cipher but 'for Paul and his contemporaries the cross of Jesus was not a didactic, symbolic or speculative element but a very specific and highly offensive matter which imposed a burden on the earliest Christian missionary preaching.'.

This is something which I think is often lost on modern western sensibilities (it certainly has been on me). Although many claim the necessity of capital punishment, few would create jewelry out of the instruments used to carry it out, as is commonplace with a cross.

I believe the strength of this book lies in challenging the "ordinary" or "sanitised" way in which many Christians in the west would make "obvious" or "common sense" judgements on political or ethical issues, based on a assumed understanding of what it means to follow a "crucified" saviour - a seeming contradiction in terms.

Instead, if what Hengel argues is correct (a minor exaggeration) when he says:

'With its paradoxical contrast between the divine nature of the pre-existent Son of God and his shameful death on the cross, the first Christian proclamation shattered all analogies and parallels to christology which could be produced in the world of the time, whether from polytheism or from monotheistic philosophy.'

There then must be room made to think through religion, action and ethic in a patient and humble way - as it may run contrary to contemporary thought (even seen as madness!) as it did thought in antiquity. Without developing the theme too far, the study provides room for careful thought and theologizing, showing that the cross of Christ:

' [...] caused offence, but in this very offence it revealed itself as the centre of the gospel. For the death of Jesus on the cross is very much more than a religious symbol, say of the uttermost readiness of a man for suffering and sacrifice; it is more than just an ethical model which calls for discipleship, though it is all this as well. What we have here is God's communication of himself, the free action through which he establishes the effective basis of our salvation.'

A pretty significant con is the large amount of untranslated Greek and Latin quotations from primary source material, but you can get by. Also certainly not an easy read in terms of imagery and descriptions of violence (but that is the reality).

[Old-Barbarossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems to be pretty much all we have on crucifixion in antiquity, all in one 90 page book.
It assumes some knowledge of terms and Hx and there is a fair bit of Greek text (pretty much all translated though). There are also very good notes.
It isn't a manual for a legion's crucifixion squad, it's not a "how to" book...it is a look at how crucifixion was used and when it was used, a look at the documented sources, the social significance of it, lastly why this form of execution was in some ways a stumbling block for the adoption of early christianity.
It covers Roman use obviously, but also the use by many others (though in some areas this is sparsely covered due to limited sources): Persians, Indians, Celts, Britons, Carthaginians, Assyrians. Looks at mass crucifixions briefly too (Crassus and Alexander were fairly fond of it).
It places "the crucifixion" in it's cultural context and exposes the cultural baggage (and the humiliation and debasement) that comes with this type of judicial death.

[Kristofer Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great theologian Martin Hengel has done a great service with this book. First, it contains a wealth of information about the way in which crucifixion was used in the ancient world---Roman, Greek, Barbarian, and even among the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty. Second, it contains a great deal of information from Roman sources about the derision heaped upon Christians for worshiping a crucified God. Third, it documents a number of cases where Christians were crucified, something that has become fashionable to doubt of late. (There are those who doubt the Christian accounts of Roman persecution, arguing that it was isolated and rare.) And finally, it dooms those who argue that the accounts of the crucified Christ are meant to be taken Christ's metaphorically becoming one with the suffering of the world. In fact, Christ actually became one with the suffering of the world; the death on a cross was the worst form of death, being reserved for the most heinous of crimes. Thus when Christ died a criminal's death, he became one with humanity both in his life and his death. In this manner, Christ could cast down death by death and, through His resurrection, could bestow life upon those in the tombs.
The reason I didn't give this book five stars is because Martin Hengel has the academic habit of writing for other academics, in that he fails to translate all his quotations from Greek and Latin sources.

[Omar Nizam · Rating 1 out of 5]

- Book Review: "Crucifixion" by Martin Hengel - 📚✝️

In Crucifixion, German scholar Martin Hengel attempts to give an account of the use of crucifixion as a punishment in the Greco-Roman world. The topic of the book is very interesting and the book is no doubt very thoroughly researched.

However, the book is also EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING to navigate due to the following:

1) Excessive amount of non-English words and phrases (Latin and Greek) without giving it's English translation.

2) Poor formatting in the E-Book version.

3) Notes and references are given as footnotes rather than given separately at the back of the book, thus making it very difficult to get into a proper reading flow.

4) The author does not give enough 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, I feel that just reading the summary chapter would be more than sufficient.

All of the above points in my opinion merits the book a very low mark.

My rating: 1/5 stars ⭐

[Genevieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author made a survey of ancient literature and historical texts to find all he could about crucifixion.

The result: it’s even more irrational that the apostles would have made up the Jesus story. Crucifixion was reserved for the worst of the worst in the Roman world. Criminals and slaves, only the lower class. During Jesus’ time, some heroes were crucified, but they were always saved by a god or justice prevailed. It was the height of the ridiculous to imagine that a god would let himself be crucified. Especially the Jewish god considering Deuteronomy 21:23- that anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse.

This whole Christianity story gets more and more complicated (and, surprisingly more believable) with everything I read.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A summary of the way cultures have thought about and referred to crucifixion. Not a thrilling read. Very thorough. But worth seeing the proper view of what crucifixion would have meant in the Roman Empire as the Church worshiped a crucified god. Read the Summary chapter if you can't read anything else.

[Jason Whitaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, but doesn't need to be read multiple times. It's a survey of the practice of crucifixion. The author provides you with a lot of great insights on the topic. He does at the end make a powerful point of the relevance of the cross in the Christian faith.

[M Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slender monograph is primarily a work of ancient historical research, a recounting of the relatively slight historical witness to crucifixion in the ancient world of Europe, Asia, & Africa. Although it appears that crucifixion was a fairly common method of torture & execution for slaves, rebels, traitors, and captives, nobody wanted to write about it much. Little wonder as it was held in horror by the refined classes on whose behalf it was performed. Although Hengel's scholarship is impeccable, the most lasting benefit of his little book is likely the short conclusion in which he discusses the theological meaning of the cross.

[Curtis Hefner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though a short book (my copy was a mere 90 pages and many shortened due to footnotes on each page), this is by no means an easy read. It is a serious examination of the ancient evidence of crucifixion's regularity and perception. Because most of the author's sources are Greek, readability of the footnotes will depend on your familiarity with the language.

I find value in this examination because of the implications for understanding Paul's preaching and Jesus' solidarity with the lowliest of men.

[Guy Cabell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book for the serious scholar with familiarity with the history and historians of the Greek and Roman worlds. It also helps to have some understanding of Greek and Latin.

[Adam Carnehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Crucifixion" provides an exhaustive look at opinions on the practice of crucifixion from ancient Roman and Greek sources. Nevertheless, Hengel also takes into account Carthaginian, Persian, Egyptian and Jewish sources. From historians to poets to humorists to theologians, Hengel demonstrates from a vast array of ancient authors that crucifixion was widespread across the ancient Mediterranean world. The work is quite brief, at only 90 pages, but is dense with information. The footnotes are extensive. This seems to be the seminal work of the last century on this tortuous practice and how it was popularly comprehended.

Hengel's thesis is, essentially, that St Paul's words on the cross of Jesus Christ which is a "scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles," are accurate and typical of the age. Virtually all the ancient peoples from around the Mediterranean viewed crucifixion with abhorrence, and all the writings cited by Hengel, from c. 500 B.C. to c. 250 A.D., prove this. Crucifixion was a death penalty reserved for (one might say "designed for") slaves and bandits in the Roman Empire, state-criminals in the Greek speaking world, and defeated generals in Carthage.

No matter where one might live, however, crucifixion was generally seen as the most shameful, detestable, and brutal of all punishments. In the Roman Empire, it was considered worse than being decapitated or being fed to wild animals. To be crucified was to be killed as an example to all other wrong doers, especially slaves, who were crucified the oftenest.

The final chapter is quite moving, and is really the only "theological" portion of this book (which Hengel admits is actually a historical prelude to a full work on Paul's theology of the cross). The point is that death on the cross is radical kenosis - or emptying - for God. He really did die the slaves' death (Phil. 2:8), and this was shocking to the ancients, a significant stumbling block. In what is perhaps the most moving line of the book, Hengel writes, "In other words, in the death of Jesus of Nazareth God identified himself with the extreme of human wretchedness, which Jesus endured as a representative of us all, in order to bring us to the freedom of the children of God..."

This is an important work. Though scholarly, an interested non-academic would gain much from it, especially from the conclusion - one which I found to be especially thoughtful, worshipful, and Christ-centered.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had wanted to read Hengel for several years, when I saw many historical critics I enjoyed citing this work in particular. Hengel's reputation as an historian is well evinced in this book for the sheer breadth of ancient sources he cited--something not often emulated in even the most thorough historical-critical studies of the New Testament and the ancient Mediterranean, and something that ought to happen more often. Hengel's basic thesis is that crucifixion was widely practiced (both geographically and temporally) in the ancient world, and that it was never celebrated as a respectable death or martyrdom. This leads him to conclude that a theology of Christ's cross which fails to recognize the cruelty of his death falls well short of a good theology. Hengel's brief description of the Crucifixion as "kenotic" and as an expression of God's solidarity with the most despised and marginalized of humans does much to tease the theologically creative imagination, and gives the believing reader a lot to ponder. Where Hengel loses the 1 star is on his historical methodology, which is not stated outright (though he may advocate for his method in another writing somewhere), and which does not give clear guidelines for understanding how some of his sources are treated as accurate or inaccurate. This is a small detail, but his extensive use of historical sources makes it necessary--particularly when he evaluates some sources as "metaphorical" in some sense. A great introduction to Hengel, and a great beginning point for theological reflection on the cross of Christ.

[Steve Irby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished "Crucifixion," by Martin Hengel.

This historical look at the cross and at the foolishness of the cross is drawing on secular writings from history. The focus is what would an early Greek or Roman have thought at the suggestion of a crucified God?

Interestingly he goes on to suggest that the gnostic docetism was an early attempt to remove the foolishness of the cross by keeping the impassibility of God intact. If the crucified God only "appeared" human He didnt really suffer so the god-of-the-philosophers attribute of feeling no pain would stay intact.

It is recorded that, unlike often told, a Roman citizen could be crucified in cases of high treason.

I find it interesting that it was often the case that, generally speaking, one was crucified at the place where they committed their crime. Theologically I believe there may be some meat here but it is vague.

Hengel says that Crucifixion was never used in the ancient world metaphorically because it was too offensive. One is just waiting for him to say "...and then Paul...."

I found the reference to Plato's crucified just man interesting. Upon deeper reflection an educated person would have been able to connect the dots in how God played off of something they were familiar with in the crucified just man.

His historical and at times almost medical analysis is profound. One sets this thin (90 p) book down with a new appreciation of how the ancients saw Crucifixion. Awesome book.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A slim volume of immense power.

I was recommended this book by a professor in passing. Finally making time to read it in lent, it has completely transformed my understanding of what crucifixion meant in antiquity.

The author’s goal is to make it more understandable to a modern reader why Paul’s “word of the cross” was “folly” to Gentiles at the time. What we get is a concise, detailed, explosion from the typewriter of a scholar of the New Testament and classical literature.

I enjoyed his well read side notes into Greco-Roman lit and philosophy and how it talked about crucifixion.

“The complex of the death of Jesus is a single entity for [Paul], in which he never forgets the fact that Jesus did not die a gentle death like Socrates, with his cup of hemlock, much less passing on ‘old and full of years’ like the patriarchs of the Old Testament. Rather, he died like a slave or a common criminal, in torment, on the tree of shame (Dt 21:23). Paul’s Jesus did not die just any death; he was ‘given up for us all’ on the cross, in a cruel and contemptible way.”

Don’t domesticate the involved suffering and death of crucifixion in your witness or preaching!

[Rodney Harvill · Rating 4 out of 5]

“But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Cor. 1:23-24 (NASB)

The typical modern American Christian knows this verse yet has no clue what it actually means. I have heard Christians talk about this foolishness with an undertone that implies that it is foolishness to fools. To Christians who are the heirs of two millennia of church history, the power of the cross is self-evident, but Paul, who wrote those words, lived and evangelized in a society where pluralistic and polytheistic paganism was dominant and self-evident. Crucifixion, a punishment practiced not just by Rome, was well known in the ancient world. Yes, its implementation varied somewhat. The Roman crucifixion with which we are most familiar involved placing a living victim on the cross and leaving his body there to rot, but other ancient societies often hung up an already dead body to rot. The message was always the same, intimidation, deterrence, dishonor, humiliation. Furthermore, crucifixion had a reputation as a vile punishment, as the slaves’ punishment.

What god would allow himself to suffer the humiliation of the cross? There was only one analogy within pagan mythology, Prometheus. After defying Zeus and giving fire to man, he was chained to a rock, positioned as if he were on a cross, an eagle eating his liver every day. In other words, he was being punished for his aid to humanity rather than suffering in their place to redeem them.

What god would allow him to be humiliated like a slave? Yet, Jesus emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave (δουλος), something that would have resonated with the early Christians who know crucifixion as the slaves’ punishment, a point Dr. Hengel made in a wonderful exposition of Phil. 2:5-11.

Don’t be fooled by the book’s short length. It makes up for it in depth and is sprinkled profusely with Greek and Latin quotes, which he usually translates, usually. So, the book is not an easy read but is worth the effort.

[Benedict Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good survey of crucifixion as a penalty in the Graeco-Roman world. He shows convincingly that the practice was present, and that it was the most painful and shameful way for someone to die.

This is his closing paragraph:
"The theological reasoning of our time shows very clearly that the particular form of the death of Jesus, the man and the messiah, represents a scandal which people would like to blunt, remove or domesticate in any way possible. We shall have to guarantee the truth of our theological thinking at this point. Reflection on the harsh reality of crucifixion in antiquity may help us to overcome the acute loss of reality which is to be found so often in present theology and preaching."

If anyone has doubts about the reality of crucifixion, this is a good book to read. The scholarship is impressive, although as a result, it can be somewhat dry. But the book does achieve its purpose of investigating and showing the horrors of crucifixion. He also reminds Christians that we must hang onto this horrific, but paradoxically salvific picture of the cross of Christ.

[Adam Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles" (1 Cor 1:23). What makes the message of the crucifixion seem so foolish and mad? Martin Hengel carefully presents a comprehensive overview of the historical background to this statement, showing how crucifixion was used in the ancient world and how it was seen as the ultimate humiliating form of punishment. When you read the sources, it becomes even more clear why the idea of a crucified Messiah would be seen as ridiculous and foolish. And it becomes even more clear how "in the death of Jesus of Nazareth God identified himself with the extreme of human wretchedness."

Hengel's work is short, but it's an important book, which remains widely respected for its historical background. He writes as a scholar for scholars, and as a non-scholar I skimmed over some parts and was thankful for the clear concluding thoughts! But this is worth reading to get an insight into the historical background of the New Testament's crucifixion accounts and the apostles' preaching of the cross.

[Natacha Pavlov · Rating 5 out of 5]

"... the earliest Christian message of the crucified messiah demonstrated the 'solidarity' of the love of God with the unspeakable suffering of those who were tortured and put to death by human cruelty, as this can be seen from the ancient sources."

Martin Hengel's brief 'Crucifixion' explores the references to crucifixion in the various sources of ancient Rome, Greece and Judea. So repugnant was the gruesome reality of this widespread punishment that a natural tendency prevailed to blunt or remove its scandalous impact. This pervading view of the 'folly of the cross'—reflected in the Jewish concern of being 'hung on a tree' and 'cursed by God' (Deut. 21:23) is a powerful reminder of the challenge the earliest apostles faced when preaching the message of Jesus (1 Cor 18:24).
As Hengel states, "it is the crucifixion that distinguishes the new message from the mythologies of all other peoples."

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read around Easter 2013. Reread holy week 2024. Hengel refers to the chapters of this book as ‘historical preliminaries’ (p. 86). "I am well aware that this study remains essentially incomplete, for now at the end I should really begin all over again with a detailed exegesis of the evidence about the cross in the writings of Paul" (p. 86). The book is not entirely devoid of exegesis, but mainly outlines how crucifixion functions in a variety of ancient contexts. It adds tremendous color to the reality of the cross and how they were perceived in the first century against the preaching of the cross. An example mentioned in the book (in a variety of places) is 1 Cor 1:18ff. The word of the cross is folly to many—and Hengel shows how much more this was the case for a first century Greek or Roman than it is for a twenty-first century reader of the New Testament today.
This is a historical book, and it was devotional reading for me.

[Tiffany Slouffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t really know what I expected this book to be, but I was surprised.
It’s chapter after chapter of how horrific crucifixion was. Being hung on a cross was almost like a dirty little secret to most people who used it. It wasn’t talked about much by Roman leaders and was viewed as super embarrassing and degrading for the person who was crucified. It was mostly used for lower class criminals.
It also went into details of how Greek gods were never killed in this way. So people at the time of Christ viewed Christ’s death on the cross as absurd when Christian’s claimed Jesus was God. (What god dies….much less on a CROSS?)

It was a good book to read during Lent as it set my mind on how horrific, embarrassing and truly painful Jesus death on the cross was. And yet He did it willingly.

[Jim Gilmour · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a excellent book the covers a lot in s short space. For me it’s importance lay in further demonstrating the sheer scandal of the cross in its historical context. The downside for me was the academic aspects re. ancient world texts historical and mythological, this would be better appreciated by someone with a better grasp of those matters. There are extensive footnotes that are also equally scholarly and somewhat helpful to the likes of me who am rather unscholarly. Still well worth having and reading. Particularly for preachers or theologians and not least Christian apologists.

[Kendall Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent survey of the classical sources on the historical practice of crucifixion with a particular focus on what it meant for Paul to talk about the folly of the word of the cross in 1 Cor. In our time, when the cross is more immediately the logo for Christianity than anything else, Hengel's brief work helps us to begin to understand how foolish the word of the cross really is. Understanding this foolishness is the only path to any kind of legitimately Christian wisdom.

[Missie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bloody horror, violence, shame of crucifixion. A curse word. Unfathomable. This book describes the ancient practice for hardened criminals, treasonous rebels of whom the regime wanted to make an example, slaves and such. Public, gory, brutal. Hard to grasp the barbarism and cruelty.
And that even hanging on it barely breathing, it was a slow death happening over a day or longer.
No relationship to the jewellery hanging off our necks in modern times.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prof Hengel presents an extensive survey of crucifiction throughout the ancient world. His insights and then reflections on Paul’s reference to the ‘folly’ of the cross is simply superb.

Martin Hengel remains one of my favourite New Testament scholars - trying to systematically read everything he has written.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

By situating crucifixion within the context of Greco-Roman and Jewish practice, Hengel illuminates the scandal and shame of having been a crucified person. He allows the sources to speak for themselves and leaves us pondering what sort of message is being proclaimed by Christians when they profess belief in a crucified messiah. Unforgettable.

[Eric Succar · Rating 5 out of 5]

If people read how crucifixion really is, they'd throw up. To think that humankind once used this worst form of execution like handing out parking tickets, it will make you be ashamed to be part of this savage race of ours.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and concise summary of crucifixion in history. Makes plain why the Cross and Crucifixion of Jesus are a stumbling block and foolishness. This reality continues until today.
Short read, very clear. Lots of Latin and Greek for those who can read it; clear translations for those who cannot.