ABSTRACT
The gospels represent Jesus the so-called Christ as a grandiose masochist who sought his own destruction. They also represent him as the victim of a plot by “the Jews” to destroy him. Christians who focus on the first of these scenarios experience some relief from guilt, for they understand that Jesus was God, and that he redeemed human beings from sin with his voluntary death on the cross. The cross as a sign of victory over death was co-opted by Christian political and military leaders in order to promote another kind of victory, namely, military victory in wars against non-Christian and even against Christian enemies. The Crusades were “wars of the cross.” The Holocaust is the most thoroughly victorious war won against those perceived as enemies of the cross. The cross in this case was the hooked cross, which has been utilized continuously in Christian iconography since pre-Constantinian Christians included it along with other crosses in the catacombs of Rome.
