Gregory J. Riley, associate professor of New Testament at the Claremont School of Theology in California, explores in this book the reasons why Christianity was able to survive and even thrive in the Greco-Roman empire at a time when it was viewed as "a disease consisting of superstition." The author contends that from Jesus's death through the Council of Nicea in the fourth century there were many opinions and beliefs about "the master figure" of this new movement. Diversity is at the heart of Christianity's origins.
One of the reasons this religion stayed alive was that Jesus fit right in with the ancient Greek ideal of a hero-a person of distinguished courage, admired for bravery and noble character, who could become a model for others. Riley shows how the virgin birth, his remarkable talents, the testing of his character, his rejection by rulers, his early death in the midst of life, and the prize of immortality enabled many early Christians in the Roman world to accept Jesus as their quintessential hero. He inspired within them the courage and the conviction to go to their own deaths in a period of intense persecution. Riley's portrait of Jesus as the quintessential hero and of Christians as heroes themselves has much to say to us in our era when so many yearn for connection with someone who will transform their lives.