On weighty issues

Not far from our house, through the village of Ploubezre (plew bear), where we buy our daily bread and frequently stop for morning coffee in a little Bar-Tabac, then on about a kilometre or so, at the intersection heading for Tonquedec, is a Calvary of Five Crosses. 

Throughout rural Brittany on even the most remote crossroads you can find similar lichen encrusted crucifixes. It is not often you see a calvary. And you rarely see five crosses together. 

This set is really interesting. There is a high cross in the centre and the other squatter crosses are set into a platform making a calvary of crosses. One of the crosses is ancient, dating from the 10c. It also has the date 1728 inscribed on the back. This date is generally believed by most to be when the five crosses were assembled into the calvary.  

Notwithstanding.  Noted Anglican theologian Ethelbert William Bullinger, early in the 20th century, wishing to argue a specific point about the number of those who were crucified with the Lord, in his Companion to the Bible, took photos of these very crosses, in situ, on one of his many visits to Brittany.  

Using the photos, and the existence of five crosses together, as 'weighty' evidence, Bullinger wrote:

"Mislead by tradition and the ignorance of Scripture on the part of medieval painters, it is the general belief that only two were crucified with the Lord. 

But Scripture does not say so...it is clear…that there were four "others" crucified with the Lord...

To show that we are not without evidence, even from tradition, we may state that there is a "Calvary" to be seen at Ploubezre near Lannion, in the Cotes-du-Nord, Brittany, known as Les Cinq Croix ("The Five Crosses")."

So, it seems that there is evidence and there is 'evidence'. And if you are wanting to make a 'Bullinger point' in an argument you simply set about pursuading others using such 'evidence'. 

Les Cinq Croix