Monday, June 21, 2010

Crucifixion revisionism?

CRUCIFIXION REVISIONISM?
What do we really know about the crucifixion of Jesus?
June 14, 2010 (Physorg.com)

The many different accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus find little support in historical sources. The reason is that antique sources generally lack descriptions of crucifixions, says Gunnar Samuelsson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who recently finished his doctoral thesis on the topic.
For earlier PaleoJudaica discussions of the physiology of crucifixion, see this post and follow the surviving links. But Samuelsson seems to be taking a much more skeptical line about our whole understanding of crucifixion in antiquity.

UPDATE (22 June): The Gothenburg University website has more information on the thesis here.