The claim made by one of my fellow academics this week that Jesus might have been the latest – or, you might argue, the first – victim of the #MeToo campaign (#HimToo perhaps?) initially sounds bizarre. Sexual violence towards the Son of God?

Look at it more closely, however, and the suggestion stands up. And, as Easter approaches, it is a good time to reconsider what the Crucifixion really means.

The Cross has always been a contested symbol. On the one hand it can be interpreted as an absolute rejection of violence – God in Jesus submits to an unjust execution and dies upon a cross. For the peace tradition in Christianity, represented by Quakers and other Christian pacifists, it is a mandate...