This is the most important week in the Christian Year when Christians commemorate what they regard as the central event in human history, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross, an excruciating form of torture carried out by the Romans. Today the cross is commonly used as a fashion item - not a symbol of death, but of consumerism. It can still cause offence; some Christians have been told they cannot wear one at work.
Ernie Rea considers the different uses and symbolism of the cross with Dr Sophie Lunn Rockcliffe, Lecturer in Roman History at Kings College London; Dr Anna Robbins, Lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Culture at the London School of Theology: and Dr Ed Kessler, Director of the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic religions in Cambridge.