Christ’s Crucifixion: Reclamation of the Cross gaye str athe arn
Gaye Strathearn (gaye_strathearn@byu.edu) is an associate professor of ancient scripture at BYU.
A longer version of this article will appear in Camille Fronk Olson and Thomas A. Wayment, eds., With Healing in His Wings (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, forthcoming).
Carl Bloch, The Crucifixion
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For Latter-day Saints, the Crucifixion has taken something of a backseat to the events of Gethsemane and the Resurrection in their public discourse about the Atonement.
ood Friday is one of the most important and holy days in the traditional Christian calendar. It remembers the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and celebrates its central role in the Savior’s Atonement. The Crucifixion is one of the few events that is chronicled in all four of the New Testament Gospels. Yet traditionally the Crucifixion, while acknowledged by Latter-day Saints, has taken something of a backseat to the events of Gethsemane and the Resurrection in their public discourse about the Atonement. Institutionally, and often privately, Latter-day Saints do not join with other Christians in celebrating Good Friday. This downplaying has led one outsider to conclude in an issue of Newsweek magazine, “Mormons do not . . . place much emphasis on Easter.”1 Yet, in spite of the lack of discourse and celebration of Good Friday, the Crucifixion plays a critical role in Latter-day Saint teachings and doctrine, 45