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A review by milkbadger
The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge
For unknown masochistic reasons, I committed myself to reading this book cover to cover. It took over two years, I think. I did let myself off the hook a little by deciding to skip all of the voluminous footnotes, but it was a slog even so.
The book covers a staggering quantity of theological treatments of the crucifixion event throughout the ages, and I don't and won't remember most of the perspectives that I encountered in the six hundred pages of text. But if I had to pick a single presentation that I thought was the most important to carry forward in Christian tradition, I would go with Karl Barth, or at least, the version of Barth that Rutledge presents in the book. In my estimation, Barth possesses a gift for telling the story of salvation and drawing connections in such a way as to make them seem ordinary and simple but also surprising and eye-opening at the same time.
The book covers a staggering quantity of theological treatments of the crucifixion event throughout the ages, and I don't and won't remember most of the perspectives that I encountered in the six hundred pages of text. But if I had to pick a single presentation that I thought was the most important to carry forward in Christian tradition, I would go with Karl Barth, or at least, the version of Barth that Rutledge presents in the book. In my estimation, Barth possesses a gift for telling the story of salvation and drawing connections in such a way as to make them seem ordinary and simple but also surprising and eye-opening at the same time.