The Quest for the True Cross

by Thiede, Carsten Peter; D'Ancona, Matthew

• ISBN13: 9780312294243
• ISBN10: 0312294247
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Griffin

Summary

The cross may be the most powerful and recognizable symbol in the history of Western civilization. But what are the historical origins of the cross, and what happened to it after Christ's crucifixion? In a church outside Rome, a small fragment of wood, neglected for hundreds of years, may hold the answer to these questions and prove fundamental to understanding the real genesis of Christianity.
Thiede and d'Ancona - best-selling authors of The Jesus Papyrus - have written a revisionist work. The Quest for the True Cross explores the long-ignored fragment of the Titulus Crucis, the inscribed headboard of Christ's cross.
Their claim is a radical challenge to the modern view that all supposedly holy relics are fakes. Thiede and d'Ancona have amassed evidence that this fragment dates from the time of Christ and was brought to Rome by Queen Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great. According to legend, Queen Helena found the cross in Jerusalem in A.D. 326, on the site where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre now stands.

Table of Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Tree of Life: A Brief History of the Cross

Queen Helena and the Birth of Christian Europe

The Discovery of the True Cross

A Kiss of Life—Jerusalem and Rome, or: How a Piece of Walnut Wood Made History

Jews and Romans in Jerusalem: The Titulus, God, the Lord and the Saviour

The Earliest Christian Symbol: Believers under the Cross

The Lasting Quest

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