‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you . . .’

With over two billion followers today, Jesus of Nazareth is the most influential person to have walked the earth. But why has he had such an enormous impact?

Written by a world authority, this brief history begins by assessing Jesus the man – his Jewish heritage, his message, his friends and enemies, and his eventual execution. Helen Bond then considers Jesus’ legacy, starting with the accounts of his life in the New Testament. She also looks at other early portrayals of Jesus, at the spread of Jesus-devotion during the Middle Ages, and at what Jesus means to people today – both in the Church and in secular culture.