"the true source of power is to suffer and that notion you know that to be a victim can somehow be a source of power is unbelievably subversive in the context of classical antiquity. You see all the time in the news at the moment that to cast yourself as a victim is somehow to give yourself power. And you would only have power by virtue of being a victim if you existed in the context of a society that was still in its fundamentals, Christian. In the Roman world if you said I'm victim they'd say yeah, and? I'll enslave you, or rape you, or do whatever." - Tom Holland

"It is one of the most extraordinary turnarounds in history that the symbolism of crucifixion said, "we run this world and if you get in our way we will rub you out". That is callous, brutal power. To have within 20 years, the crucifixion as a symbol of all conquering self giving love, that's just quite extraordinary." - NT Wright