There is no better place to start a survey of ecclesiology than with the cross. If we do not understand its significance we cannot get to grips with what the church is for and its various structures.
Bertrand Russell, in his essay Why I am not a Christian makes the claim that Christians believe in two things that make them distinctive. First is the existence of God and the other is that Jesus was the best person who ever lived. I mention this because arguments with atheists are too often sidetracked down the question of God's existence.
This is a red herring because the issue is not theism but idolatry. From the earliest time, the Jews would not speak the name of God; even God's name could lead to idolatry. The way I would put this is to say that God is not a part of the universe. Idolatry is the act of attributing to God the nature of a created thing.
The genius of Christianity is its doctrine of incarnation. That this God who is no-thing became human is a scandal. Or rather the claim that God was crucified is the scandal. Crucifixion aside from being not just a means of execution but simultaneously an instrument of torture, was a method set aside for the poor, the slave and the marginalised. To be crucified was shameful. Jesus became like a slave and worse was executed on the cross.
This was the first thing that brought Christianity into confrontation with the Roman Empire. From this flowed the early Christians' refusal to burn incense to Caesar, the Emperor God. Here was the root of the conflict between the early church and the Roman Empire during the first centuries of the Christian era.
Christians argue that the incarnation permits images of God, of God crucified - this and related images aim to give us a glimpse of the nature of God. The cross will not allow us to forget this Christian faith is in essence a movement of the poor against overbearing, oppressive, unaccountable power. Images that point to God are called icons. They should be recognised for what they are, an offence to theists everywhere.
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