Customer Reviews

The Non-Christian Cross

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So, you think that the early Christians originated the cross as a religious symbol? That is not the case, according to the considerable research that went into this book. The cross was an object of veneration long before Christians adopted it. The author lays out page after page of documentation from ancient sources, including carvings, and from Roman coins minted before the first century, and from the time of Constantine, who was a sun worshipper.
The book was originally printed in London in 1896, and written by John Denham Parsons. There is no information in the book about the author, but perhaps that may be found on line.

The chapters include such titles as, "Was the stauros of Jesus cross-shaped?, "The Evidence of Minucius Felix." "The Evidence of the Other Fathers." "Origin of the Pre-Christian Cross." "Origin of the Christian Cross," "Roman Coins before Constantine," " . .After Constantine," "The Coins of Constantine" "The Monogram of Christ," (an investigation into the well-known "chi-rho" symbol that is found on Roman coins pre-dating Christianity). The book also discusses the use of the pre-Christian cross in Troy, Cypress, Europe, and Africa.

As to the writing of the book itself, you will find that the style is typical of many writers from the 1800s. The sentence structure is sometimes labored with long, compound sentences that force you to stop and really think about what point he was trying to make. It doesn't flow as easily as more modern writing, but it is still understandable.
The author makes frequent references to illustrations in other books from the same era. Most of us will not have copies of those books to verify his claims, but I would not discount them. He includes picture representations of various forms of the cross symbol as used in ancient times, formed by the use of Xs and Os on the typewriter. This is helpful, but drawings would have been better. Some photographic evidence would have been better yet.

Over all, this book offers powerful evidence that the cross that became the symbol of Christianity was originally an object of veneration in sun worship, and it was introduced into Christianity by Constantine who wanted to bring together the followers of Christianity and the followers of sun-worship, under a symbol that they both would accept. I can't vouch for every detail of the book, but if only half of what the author states is true, the cross, it would appear, came into Christianity from paganism.

This book is written in the 19th century, and can be found free on the internet. As such, 71$ for a 100-page 100+ year old book is way too much. 7$ would be much more like the actual price.