Download or read book The Cross before Constantine written by Bruce W. Longenecker and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Upending a longstanding consensus, Bruce W. Longenecker presents a wide variety of material artifacts to illustrate that Christians made use of the cross as a visual symbol of their faith long before Constantine appropriated it to consolidate his power in the fourth century. Constantine did not invent the cross as a symbol of Christian faith; for an impressive number of Christians before Constantine’s reign, the cross served as a visual symbol of commitment to a living deity in a dangerous world.