Re: The story of Jesus and the place of the cross

Andrew, I’m not sure that it’s sensible to speak of a narrative’s centre. Climax, perhaps - but the Cross is obviously not the climax of the narrative. Different threads, maybe, with some more "central" to the plot. However, try as I might, I can’t come up with one usage of "centre" that I wouldn’t want to insist belongs to Christ himself, not simply his death on a cross.

Peter, I don’t know that I really have a coherent view of the cross nowadays. I wrote a popular-level piece a couple of years ago, that I would still go along with some of: The Day God Turned His Cheek (or here).

If the cross is, as you argue, the means to the new covenant, this makes it subservient to that covenant. So, on that understanding, the covenant is more ‘central’.

Like you, I am interested in where interpretations take us. This is precisely why I am concerned with statements like ‘born to die’.