Was Jesus Really Crucified?
There is an article on the CNN Belief blog calling into question whether or not Jesus was really crucified. You can read the post here. What is different about this is that the scholar identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. The issue is not whether or not Jesus was executed but whether he was executed on a cross. This is similar to the Jehovah’s Witness claim that Jesus died on a stake since the Greek stauros literally means stake and not cross. This is typical of this kind of controversy. From a purely linguistic perspective, the question is still open. However, what we know of Roman execution is that they crucified, although the shape of wood may have been an I, T or t. Should stauros be translated as cross? There is no reason not to, although we need to have some humility regarding our knowledge of the shape of the cross that Jesus died on. The point of the story is that Jesus died for us, and that death paid the penalty for our sins.
Interestingly, the teachings of Islam too suggest that Jesus was never crucified.