Jesus’ Descent from the Cross in Ancient and Medieval Reception

Abstract

Abstract This article traces out the receptions of the Gospel accounts of the removal of Jesus from the cross (which has been variously titled the “deposition of Christ” or the “descent from the cross”). This scene is narrated only very briefly in the four canonical Gospels and receives very little attention in the commentary tradition. However, it does receive attention in creative retellings of the Gospel narratives in antiquity and the middle ages; whereas receptions of this scene are less frequent in antiquity, they explode in the high middle ages. Focusing on the Gospel of Peter, Nonnus of Panopolis’ poetic Paraphrase of John, and the Pseudo-Bonaventuran work Meditationes Vitae Christi, this article explores what might have interested these authors in Jesus’ descent from the cross, and then what these receptions teach us anew about the scene as narrated in the canonical Gospels.