First published 2025
Elaine Pagels tackles the ultimate historical puzzle: how did an impoverished young Jewish man inspire a religion that transformed the world? The National Book Award winner approaches Jesus's story like a detective, examining each chapter of his life through the gospels his followers preserved. She investigates the virgin birth, the resurrection, and the miracles, asking what really happened and why these stories took the shape they did. Pagels reveals that Jesus's desperate, persecuted disciples crafted explanations to address troubling facts. They transformed potential scandals into divine mysteries. An illegitimate birth became a virgin conception. A body left to decay became a triumphant resurrection. A failed messiah became an eternal spiritual king. These creative interpretations weren't deceptions but necessary adaptations that gave Jesus's message the power to spread and endure. Pagels shows how the followers' urgent need to make sense of tragedy and loss produced the very details that would electrify future believers and fuel Christianity's growth.
Genres: biography, history, religion, christianity, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-mystery, religious-studies
Period: Ancient, Early-Christianity
336 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday