To answer this question, Gerard Sloyan in this powerful historical tour de force tracks the legacy of the cross across two millennia of Christian reminiscences, piety, art, speculation, and mythicizing. Beginning with New Testament accounts, he shows how Jesus' death came to be seen as sacrificial. He then plots the emergence and development - in theology, liturgy, literature, art - of the conviction that Jesus' death was redemptive, as seen both in soteriological theory from Tertullian to Anselm, in the Reformation and modern eras, and in more popular religious responses to the crucifixion. Sloyan's impressive scholarship and keen theological insights bring to light both the historical realities of Jesus' death and the many and profound ways in which the cross has been received in the hearts and minds of those who profess Jesus' name.