From a celebrated classicist and author of The Darkening Age ("[a]
ballista-bolt of a book"--New York Times Book Review), a group
biography of the many, diverse Jesuses who thrived in early Christian
traditions--and how they were killed off until just one "true" Christ
survived.
Contrary to the teachings of the church today, in the first several
centuries of Christianity's existence, there was no consensus as to who
Jesus was or why he had mattered. Instead, there were many different
Christs. One had a twin brother and traveled to India; another consorted
with dragons. One particularly terrifying Christ scorned his parents and
killed those who opposed him. Why do we know so little about these early
versions of Jesus? Because, starting in the fourth century AD, the
orthodox form of Christianity that had become preeminent set about
systematically wiping out every other variation, denouncing their
gospels as apocryphal and their followers as heretics. These unfortunate
Christians lost their rights, their property, their churches--in some
cases, even their lives.
Heretic unearths the different versions of Christ who existed in the
minds of early Christians, and the process of evolution--and
elimination--by which Jesus became the singular figure we know today.
