Crucifixion

My work has pioneered a new understanding of crucifixion by drawing on studies of torture in both recent times and in the ancient world. Two related aspects of torture practices have been particularly important guides in this research. First, torture is often directed beyond the immediate victim as a message to a wider public audience. Torture intimidates and creates fear. It can be used as a political threat, and has been used for ‘state terror’. Second, different forms of sexualized violence are virtually universal in torture practices. This typically includes punitive stripping and forced nudity to create fear and vulnerability and can extend to extreme forms of further sexualised violence. Awareness of these two aspects of torture—the threat to others and the prevalence of sexualised violence—guides my investigation of punitive sexualised violence in Roman crucifixions. Framing crucifixion as torture helps to examine the text, the context, and the possible sub-text in the Gospel accounts.

1. Acknowledging the text. My writing draws attention to the texts that describe the punitive strippings and mocking of Jesus in the praetorium (Mark 15:16-20; Matthew 27: 26-31). A whole cohort—about five hundred soldiers—were assembled for this. Jesus was then subjected to forced nudity on the cross. There is no reasonable doubt that these clearly attested abuses were intended and understood as a form of sexualized violence, but this aspect of Jesus’ experience remains largely hidden in plain sight.

2. Understanding the context. Thoughtful attention to past and present prisoner abuses and torture offers a disturbing context for understanding the stripping and forced nudity featured in the text. In addition, attention to the context encourages questions about what else might be suggested or hinted in the text. In many prisoner abuse contexts, stripping and forced nudity are not the end of sexualised violence but serve as a gateway to other forms of sexualised violence. Reticence on sexualized violence beyond stripping is quite common in past and present accounts of torture, especially for male victims.

3. Investigating the possible sub-text. I argue that, because of what is clear in the text and common in the context, it is reasonable to ask whether Jesus might have experienced additional sexualised violence beyond what is clear in the text. I explore whether this further abuse might be discretely suggested in the sub-text. The sexualized violence in the text is clear, however the possibility of additional sexualised violence in the sub-text is by its nature much harder to investigate and judge. It is a disturbing possibility, and a question that deserves to be asked and investigated. However, it cannot be answered with certainty.

Text, context, and possible sub-text are each important, and each needs to be carefully considered with an awareness of what is typically said and what is often left unsaid.

The conclusion that Jesus experienced sexualised violence does not offer any simple solutions or easy reassurances. Jesus’ experience does not solve or resolve the problem for others, nor does it make the problem of sexualised violence today any less damaging or destructive. It should, however, raise awareness within churches of the different forms that sexual harm can take, and the need for more awareness and attention to sexual harm in all its forms. Whilst acknowledgment of Jesus’ experience is confronting, when it is addressed with sensitivity it can strengthen the support messages that churches might offer to survivors. These messages should include, ‘you are not alone’, ‘you are not to blame’, and ‘you are beloved by God’. You will find further discussion of this in some of the links below.

See further…

• The interview with Biblical scholar Erin Heim for OnScript podcast (2024).

• The chapter,  ‘Things Too Indecent to be Recorded: The Soldiers Mocking the Death of Herod Agrippa’ (2024).

• The book The Crucifixion of Jesus: Torture, Sexual Abuse, and the Scandal of the Cross (2023).

• The article ‘Alone and Naked: Reading the Torture of Jesus alongside the Torture of Miriam Leitão’ (2023).

• The interview with journalist Rosie Dawson for Shiloh Project podcast (2021).

• The book (co-edited with Jayme Reaves and Rocío Figueroa), When Did We See You Naked?’: Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse (2021).

• The chapter, ‘Reading Crucifixion Narratives as Texts of Terror’ (2021).

• The article ‘Crucifixion, State Terror, and Sexual Abuse’ (1999).

• Links to other publications in the list at the top of this page.