djdaneh@pacbell.com (Dan'l DanehyOakes) (04/14/91)
In article <Apr.7.22.12.41.1991.28835@athos.rutgers.edu> cadence!stevep@uunet.uu.net (Steve Peterson) writes: >It is our understanding that Jesus died on a simple vertical stake, his >arms/hands being nailed straight up above his head...... Okay, that's your [JWs] understanding. One question: do you have any _reason_ for that understanding? Beyond, I mean, the word "stauros?" I ask because that word, in itself, does not seem to me to be sufficient cause to believe that the usual Roman practice for execution of criminals would have been altered in this case, particularly as there are Latin documents going back to the first Century AD -- not, admittedly, Gospels, but valid evidence from a time when people would be alive who had seen the events or spoken to those who had -- which use the word "crux," clearly referring to a cross and not a simple stake. Pax, Dan'l