Holy Cross Day: The Tau of Christianity

Although the crucifix has become a commonly accepted symbol of Christianity, some still debate whether or not Jesus actually died upon a cross.  Some insist that Jesus “was nailed to a single upright beam, with his hands directly over his head” – and that the Tau is therefore a misleading, and even heretical, symbol.

The ancient Semitic letter Taw (aka Tav or Taf) gave rise to the Hebrew, Aramaic and Phoenician Taws.  The Phoenician Taw then gave rise to the Greek letter Tau (T) - which in turn gave rise to the Latin and Cyrillic Ts.  Christianity’s T-shaped Cross of Tau (aka Tau Cross, Anticipatory Cross, Saint Francis’ Cross, St. Anthony’s Cross, Advent Cross, Crux Commissa, Croce traumata, Egyptian Cross, and Old Testament Cross) came to symbolize not only the cross and crucifixion of Jesus, but also “life, resurrection, reincarnation, and blood sacrifice.”  Wikipedia also reports that some Catholic Church Fathers such as St. Jerome believed that the quote from Ezekiel 9:4 (“Mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh”) refers to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Others would prefer to disassociate Christianity from the Tau symbolism.  According to James Kiefer, they

contend that the Tau is much more associated with pre-Christian practices than it is with Christian ones.

These dissenters link the Tau with the Canaanite god, Tammuz.  They go so far as to believe that Christians

who “wear a cross, or make any religious use of a cross” are worshipping Tammuz rather than Jesus.

Wikipedia reports that the Tau was also the symbol for the astrological sign of Taurus, as well as for the

Roman god Mithras and the Greek god Attis.

The Tau of Christianity question is this:  Should anything pre-Christian be rooted out from the Christian faith?  If so, would that include Christmas, Easter, and a host of other salient associations?

Resources

http://satucket.com/lectionary/Holy_Cross.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Tau

Copyright September 14, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved