Jesus' death and resurrection in early Christian art

Abstract

It is often stated in theology books that there is not one explicit depiction of Jesus' crucifixion or of the empty tomb in the pre-Constantine period of time. Some scholars want then to conclude that the death and resurrection of Jesus were not that important in the early Church. In this article it will be shown that though the early Christians did not initially used the cross or the empty tomb as symbols, they did use numerous other symbols to confirm the belief of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.