The Body of the Cross : Holy Victims and the Invention of the Atonement

__The Body of the Cross__ is a study of holy victims in Western Christian history and how the uses of their bodies in Christian thought led to the idea of the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice. Since its first centuries, Christianity has traded on the suffering of victims—martyrs, mystics, and heretics—as substitutes for the Christian social body. These victims secured holiness, either by their own sacred power or by their reprobation and rejection. Just as their bodies were mediated in eucharistic, social, and Christological ways, so too did the flesh of Jesus Christ become one of those holy substitutes. But it was only late in Western history that he took on the function of the exemplary victim. In tracing the story of this embodied development, __The Body of the Cross__ gives special attention to popular spirituality, religious dissent, and the writing of women throughout Christian history. It examines the symbol of the cross as it functions in key moments throughout this history, including the parting of the ways of Judaism and Christianity, the gnostic debates, martyr traditions, and medieval affective devotion and heresy. Finally, in a Reformation era haunted by divine wrath, these themes concentrated in the unique concept that Jesus Christ died on the cross to absorb divine punishment for sin: a holy body and a rejected body in one. One of few books that engage the symbol and meaning of the cross apart from atonement categories. "The Body of the Cross is a study of holy victims in Western Christian history and how the uses of their bodies in Christian thought led to the idea of the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice. Since its first centuries, Christianity has traded on the suffering of victims-martyrs, mystics, and heretics-as substitutes for the Christian social body. These victims secured holiness, either by their own sacred power or by their reprobation and rejection. Just as their bodies were mediated in eucharistic, social, and Christological ways, so too did the flesh of Jesus Christ become one of those holy substitutes. But it was only late in Western history that he took on the function of the exemplary victim. In tracing the story of this embodied development, The Body of the Cross gives special attention to popular spirituality, religious dissent, and the writing of women throughout Christian history. It examines the symbol of the cross as it functions in key moments throughout this history, including the parting of the ways of Judaism and Christianity, the gnostic debates, martyr traditions, and medieval affective devotion and heresy. Finally, in a Reformation era haunted by divine wrath, these themes concentrated in the unique concept that Jesus Christ died on the cross to absorb divine punishment for sin: a holy body and a rejected body in one"-- Provided by publisher

The Body of the Cross is a study of holy victims inWestern Christian history and how the uses of their bodies inChristian thought led to the idea of the cross as a substitutionarysacrifice. Since its first centuries, Christianity has traded onthe suffering of victims-martyrs, mystics, and heretics-assubstitutes for the Christian social body. These victims securedholiness, either by their own sacred power or by their reprobationand rejection. Just as their bodies were mediated in eucharistic,social, and Christological ways, so too did the flesh of JesusChrist become one of those holy substitutes. But it was only latein Western history that he took on the function of the exemplaryvictim. In tracing the story of this embodied development, TheBody of the Cross gives special attention to popularspirituality, religious dissent, and the writing of womenthroughout Christian history. It examines the symbol of the crossas it functions in key moments throughout this history, includingthe parting of the ways of Judaism and Christianity, the gnosticdebates, martyr traditions, and medieval affective devotion andheresy. Finally, in a Reformation era haunted by divine wrath,these themes concentrated in the unique concept that Jesus Christdied on the cross to absorb divine punishment for sin: a holy bodyand a rejected body in one.