Heresy is a brilliant book' - The Times 'Enthralling . . . an absolute pleasure to read' - The
Sunday Telegraph ?In the beginning was the Word ' says the Gospel of John. This sentence - and
the words of all four gospels - is central to the teachings of the Christian Church and has
shaped Western art literature and language and the Western mind. Yet in the years after the
death of Christ there was not merely one word nor any consensus as to who Jesus was or why he
had mattered. There were many different Jesuses among them the aggressive Jesus who scorned
his parents and crippled those who opposed him the Jesus who sold his twin into slavery and
the Jesus who had someone crucified in his stead. Moreover in the early years of the first
millennium there were many other saviours many sons of gods who healed the sick and cured the
lame. But as Christianity spread they were pronounced unacceptable - even heretical - and they
faded from view. Now in Heresy Catherine Nixey tells their extraordinary story one of
contingency chance and plurality. It is a story about what might have been.
