Sources for the story
The Gospels
The Passion story is told in the 4 Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible (Mark 14-15, Matthew 26-27, Luke 22-23, and John 18-19). The first 3 (often called the Synoptic Gospels) have much in common, while St John's Gospel tells the story rather differently.
Many Bible scholars would say that the Gospels are not primarily a historical record of what happened because:
- they were written between 40 and 70 years after the death of Jesus
- those who wrote them were not present at the events they described - but the oral tradition was very strong in those days, so it was possible for information to be passed on quite accurately from actual eyewitnesses
- the oral tradition allowed the narrative to be reshaped as it was passed on, in order to suit the purposes of the person telling the story
- the Gospels differ on some of the events
- the purpose of the Gospels is not to provide an accurate record of the historical events of Christ's last days but to record the spiritual truth of Jesus Christ
The Gospels are a combination of historical fact with theological reflection on the meaning and purpose of Christ's life and death.
They also look back to show how Christ's suffering and death followed the prophecies of the Old Testament in order to demonstrate that he was the long-expected Messiah.
The Gospel accounts of the Passion are very simple; other accounts of Christ's suffering and death have embellished the story with additional details.
Historical sources
The historical evidence for the Crucifixion supports the bare facts of Jesus' death on the Cross, but little else.
Around 60 years after the death of Jesus the Jewish historian Josephus wrote:
At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man, for he was a doer of astounding deeds, a teacher of people who receive the truth gladly. He won a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin.
When Pilate, because of an accusation made by our leaders, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. Up until this very day the tribe of Christians (named after him) has not died out.
Testimonium Flavium, as edited in R. Joseph Hoffmann, Gerald A. Larue, Jesus in History and Myth, 1986
The Roman historian Tacitus wrote in his Annals that:
Christus, from whom their name [Christians] is derived, was executed at the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius...Tacitus, Annals
Old Testament contributions
Some accounts of the Passion use elements from Old Testament passages to provide additional material:
One of the most widely known of these applications is the phrase..."they have numbered all my bones" (Psalm 21:18), which lay behind a host of narrative descriptions of Christ being stretched so tightly on the cross that all his bones were clearly visible and therefore numerable.Thomas H. Bestul, Texts of the Passion: Latin Devotional Literature and Medieval Society, 1996
Several passages from the Book of Isaiah also provided details that have been added into the Passion story.
Other religious sources
It wasn't just the Old Testament material that was used to augment the Passion story. Gospels not included in scripture, such as the Gospel of Nicodemus, provided additional material.
Bible commentaries from masters such as Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome dealt with the Passion, while St. Ephraem, for example, added many physical details of the Passion...
They, indeed, stretched out His limbs and outraged Him with mockeries. A man whom He had formed wielded the scourge. He who sustains all creatures with His might submitted His back to their stripesSaint Ephraem
Mediaeval books like the Historia scholastica of Peter Comestor and the Legenda aurea of Jacobus de Voragine (d. 1298) added their own ideas to enhance the power of the story...
John's description of the arrest in the garden states only that the band of soldiers with the tribune and the leaders of the Jews took Jesus and bound him (John 18:12).
In some of the late medieval treatises on the Passion, this description is elaborated with the additional detail that Christ's hands were tied so tightly that blood burst from his fingernails.
Thomas H. Bestul, Texts of the Passion: Latin Devotional Literature and Medieval Society, 1996
The mediaeval monk John of Fécamp (died 1078) wrote a famous description of the body of the dying Christ, which clearly inspired many painters...
His naked breast gleamed white, his bloody side grew red, his stretched out innards grew dry, the light of his eyes grew faint, his long arms grew stiff, his marble legs hung down, a stream of holy blood moistened his pierced feet.John of Fécamp, quoted in Thomas H. Bestul, Texts of the Passion: Latin Devotional Literature and Medieval Society, 1996
Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ used another influential account; The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is based on the visions of the German nun Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824).
Emmerich believed she had seen Christ's suffering - and her visions added to the Gospel version of the story. So for example, where the Gospels merely refer to Jesus being flogged, Emmerich adds much detail:
What the Gospels state matter-of-factly and without narrative elaboration is luridly expanded by Emmerich: First they used "a species of thorny stick covered with knots and splinters. The blows from these sticks tore His flesh to pieces; his blood spouted out...." (p. 135). Then she describes the use of scourges "composed of small chains, or straps covered with iron hooks, which penetrated to the bone and tore off large pieces of flesh at every blow" (p. 135).Paul Kurtz, The Passion as a Political Weapon, Free Inquiry, 2004
Emmerich's visions paint a very negative portrait of the Jews, and give them a much greater role in the suffering of Jesus than is found in the Bible.