When you hear of a devastating earthquake thousands of miles away, you might reach into your pockets to make a donation. That’s the fault of an itinerant Jewish preacher from an obscure backwater of the Roman Empire, otherwise known as Jesus Christ.

Early Christians, like their fellow Roman citizens, had much in common with us: a good life was one in which you could provide for your family, care for your friends and contribute to your community. Bart D. Ehrman asserts Jesus’s moral revolution was both simple and impossible: you should love strangers as much as you love your family. And you should forgive those who wrong you freely. Most of us will never live up to these ideals. But much of the good we do comes from the fact we feel we ought.

By demanding we love, Jesus came to trouble our consciences, not to salve them.

'Once again Bart Ehrman has written lucidly and convincingly on a subject of central importance, the origins of altruism. Cutting through a tangle of technical biblical scholarship, yet without oversimplifying, he traces our belief that human beings should help each other, just because they are human, back to the teaching of Jesus.  An exciting and inspiring book that should persuade readers who, like Ehrman, have no religious commitment  how startlingly original Jesus' moral teaching was.' John Barton, author of A History of the Bible   

‘Bart Ehrman makes a scintillating case here that strong forms of altruism – love for strangers, outcasts and others not like us – are ultimately driven by a Christian ethic from Jesus himself. Learned and elegantly written, this is a book that all (including Christians!) should benefit from and enjoy reading.’ Simon Gathercole, author of The Gospel and the Gospels

'An engaging but expert guide.' The Times on Heaven and Hell

Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His previous books include Heaven and Hell and The Triumph of Christianity. He has contributed to Time, The New Yorker and The Washington Post, among others.