Christian cross

==Rejection among various religious groups ==
[[File:Chancel of Grace Lutheran Church on Good Friday.jpg|thumb|The [[chancel]] of this Lutheran church features a very large [[altar cross]].]]

Although Christians accepted that the cross was the [[gallows]] on which Jesus died,{{refn|group=note|The perhaps 1st-century [[Epistle of Barnabas]] sees the letter T as indicating the cross of Christ.<ref>[[wikisource:Epistle of Barnabas (Lightfoot translation)#Chapter 9|Chapter 9, 7]]</ref>}} they had already begun in the 2nd century to use it as a Christian symbol.{{refn|group=note|''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' states: "The cross as a Christian symbol or 'seal' came into use at least as early as the 2nd century (see 'Apost. Const.' iii. 17; Epistle of Barnabas, xi.-xii.; Justin, 'Apologia,' i. 55-60; 'Dial. cum Tryph.' 85-97); and the marking of a cross upon the forehead and the chest was regarded as a talisman against the powers of demons (Tertullian, 'De Corona,' iii.; Cyprian, 'Testimonies,' xi. 21–22; Lactantius, 'Divinæ Institutiones,' iv. 27, and elsewhere). Accordingly the Christian Fathers had to defend themselves, as early as the 2nd century, against the charge of being worshipers of the cross, as may be learned from Tertullian, 'Apologia,' xii., xvii., and Minucius Felix, 'Octavius,' xxix" 9<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4776-cross|title=CROSS - JewishEncyclopedia.com|website=jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref>}} During the first three centuries of the Christian era the cross was "a symbol of minor importance" when compared to the prominence given to it later,<ref>Jan Willem Drijvers, ''Helena Augusta: The mother of Constantine the Great and the legend of her finding of the True Cross'', Brill 1992, p. 81.</ref> but by the second century it was closely associated with Christians, to the point where Christians were mocked as "adorers of the gibbet" ({{lang|la|crucis religiosi}}), an accusation countered by [[Tertullian]].{{refn|group=note|name=Tertullian}} and it was already a tradition for Christians to trace repeatedly on their foreheads the sign of the cross.{{refn|group=note|name=De Corona3}} [[Martin Luther]] at the time of the Reformation retained the cross and [[crucifix]] in the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran Church]],{{refn|group=note|"The Calvinizers sought to remove the crucifix as idolatrous. There was considerable continuity, certainly, between the Lutheran use of the crucifix and the Catholic."<ref name="ObelkevichRoper2013">{{cite book|last1=Obelkevich |first1=James |last2=Roper |first2=Lyndal |title=Disciplines of Faith: Studies in Religion, Politics and Patriarchy |date=5 November 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136820793 |page=548}}</ref>}} which remains an important feature of Lutheran devotion and worship today.<ref name="Heal2017">{{cite book|last=Heal|first=Bridget|title=A Magnificent Faith: Art and Identity in Lutheran Germany|year=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=9780198737575|page=270|quote=It was, however, the crucifix that became the most important and widely disseminated Lutheran devotional image.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=[[The Lutheran Witness]], Volume 81|year=1962|publisher=Concordia Publishing House.|language=en|page=280|quote=Lutherans have always used crucifixes and crosses, candles, and objects of sacred art.}}</ref> Luther wrote: {{lang|la|Crux sola est nostra theologia}}, "The cross alone is our theology."<ref name="KolbDingel2014">{{cite book|last1=Kolb|first1=Robert|last2=Dingel|first2=Irene|last3=Batka|first3=Lubomír|title=The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology|date=24 April 2014|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|language=en|isbn=9780191667473|pages=208–}}</ref>

On the other hand, the [[Beeldenstorm|Great Iconoclasm]] was a wave of rejecting sacred images among Calvinists of the 16th century.{{refn|group=note|"Iconoclastic incidents during the Calvinist 'Second Reformation' in Germany provoked reactive riots by Lutheran mobs, while Protestant image-breaking in the Baltic region deeply antagonized the neighbouring Eastern Orthodox, a group with whom reformers might have hoped to make common cause."<ref name="Marshall2009">{{cite book|last=Marshall |first=Peter |title=The Reformation |date=22 October 2009 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780191578885 |page=114}}</ref>}} Some localities (such as England) included polemics against using the cross in worship. For example, during the 16th century, theologians in the [[Anglican]] and [[Reformed church|Reformed]] traditions [[Nicholas Ridley (martyr)|Nicholas Ridley]],<ref>Nicholas Ridley, ''[http://anglicanhistory.org/reformation/ps/ridley/images.pdf A Treatise on the Worship of Images]'', written before 1555.</ref> [[James Calfhill]],<ref>James Calfhill, ''An aunsvvere to the Treatise of the crosse'' (''[https://archive.org/details/ananswertojohnma00calfuoft An answer to John Martiall's Treatise of the cross]'') at 1565.</ref> and [[Theodore Beza]],<ref>Theodore Beza, in his ''Answer to the Colloquium of Montheliard'' at 1588, according to [[Jaroslav Pelikan]], ''The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine'', Vol. 4, University of Chicago Press 1985, p. 217.</ref> rejected practices that they described as cross worship. Considering it a form of idolatry, there was a dispute in 16th century England over the baptismal use of the sign of the cross and even the public use of crosses.<ref>Peter Blickle, ''Macht und Ohnmacht der Bilder.: Reformatorischer Bildersturm im Kontext der europäischen Geschichte'', Oldenbourg Verlag, 2002, pp. 253–272.</ref> There were more active reactions to religious items that were thought as 'relics of [[Papacy]]', as happened for example in September 1641, when Sir [[Robert Harley (1579–1656)|Robert Harley]] pulled down and destroyed the cross at Wigmore.<ref>''Religious Politics in Post-Reformation England: Essays in Honour of Nicholas Tyacke'', Boydell & Brewer, 2006, p. 26.</ref> Writers during the 19th century indicating a Pagan origin of the cross included [[Henry Dana Ward]],<ref>Henry Dana Ward, ''[https://archive.org/details/historyofcrosspa00ward History of the cross, the pagan origin, and idolatrous adoption and worship of the image]'', at 1871.</ref> Mourant Brock,<ref>Mourant Brock, ''[https://archive.org/download/crossheathenchri00broc/crossheathenchri00broc.pdf The cross, heathen and Christian: A fragmentary notice of its early pagan existence and subsequent Christian adoption]'', London 1879.</ref> and [[John Denham Parsons]].<ref>John Denham Parsons, ''[https://archive.org/details/nonchristiancros00pars The non-Christian cross; an enquiry into the origin and history of the symbol eventually adopted as that of our religion]'', at 1896.</ref> David Williams, writing of medieval images of monsters, says: "The disembodied phallus is also formed into a cross, which, before it became for Christianity the symbol of salvation, was a pagan symbol of fertility."<ref>David Williams, ''Deformed Discourse: The function of the Monster in Mediaeval thought and literature'', McGill-Queen's Press 1999, p. 161.</ref> The study, ''Gods, Heroes & Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain'' states: "Before the fourth century CE, the cross was not widely embraced as a sign of Christianity, symbolizing as it did the gallows of a criminal."<ref>[[Christopher R. Fee]] & David Adams Leeming, ''Gods, Heroes & Kings: The battle for mythic Britain'', Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 113.</ref> This reaction in the Anglican and other Reformed Churches was short-lived and the cross became ubiquitous in these Christian traditions.<ref>{{cite book|title=New International Encyclopedia|year=1914|publisher=Dodd, Mead And Company|language=en|page=298}}</ref>

[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] do not use the symbol of the cross in their worship, which they believe constitutes [[idolatry]].<ref>{{cite book|title=What Does the Bible Really Teach?|pages=204–205|url=http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102005154|publisher=Watch Tower Society}}</ref> They believe that Jesus died on a single upright torture stake rather than a two-beam cross, arguing that the Greek term {{transliteration|grc|stauros}} indicated a single upright pole.<ref>''New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures'', appendix 5C, page 1577</ref> Although early [[Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania|Watch Tower Society]] publications associated with the [[Bible Student movement]] taught that Christ was executed on a cross, it no longer appeared on Watch Tower Society publications after the name ''Jehovah's {{not a typo|witnesses}}''{{refn|group=note|The word ''witnesses'' was not capitalised until the 1970s.}} was adopted in 1931,<ref>{{harvnb|Franz|2007|p=150}}</ref> and use of the cross was officially abandoned in 1936.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/riches/riches1.html|title=''Riches'', by J.F. Rutherford, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1936, page 27.|access-date=2013-10-15|archive-date=2021-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308034935/http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/riches/riches1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] teaches that Jesus died on a cross; however, their prophet [[Gordon B. Hinckley]] stated that "for us the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ." When asked what was the symbol of his religion, Hinckley replied "the lives of our people must become the only meaningful expression of our faith and, in fact, therefore, the symbol of our worship."<ref>{{cite web |author=Hinckley, Gordon B |author-link=Gordon B. Hinckley |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1975/05/the-symbol-of-christ?lang=eng |title=The Symbol of Christ |work=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |date=May 1975}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Hinckley, Gordon B |author-link=Gordon B. Hinckley |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2005/04/the-symbol-of-our-faith?lang=eng |title=The Symbol of Our Faith |work=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |date=April 2005}}</ref> Prophet [[Howard W. Hunter]] encouraged Latter-day Saints "to look to the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of your membership."<ref>{{cite web |author=Hunter, Howard W. |author-link=Howard W. Hunter |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1994/11/exceeding-great-and-precious-promises?lang=eng |title=Exceeding Great and Precious Promises |work=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |date=November 1994}}</ref> Images of LDS temples and the [[Angel Moroni]] (who is found in statue on most temples) are commonly used to [[Symbolism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|symbolize the faith of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]].<ref>{{cite web |last=McKeever |first=Bill |title=Why No Crosses? |url=http://www.mrm.org/no-crosses |publisher=Mormonism Research Ministry |access-date=1 April 2013}}</ref> In April 2020, under [[President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|President]] [[Russell M. Nelson]], the [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Church]] formally adopted an image inspired by [[Christus (statue)|Thorvaldsen's Christus statue]] underlain with the Church's name as an official symbol of the faith.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/new-symbol-church-of-jesus-christ|title=The Church's New Symbol Emphasizes the Centrality of the Savior|publisher=Church of Jesus Christ Newsroom|date=April 4, 2020|access-date=August 12, 2020}}</ref>