Unlike us, the first Christians did not have deep wells of tradition to draw from. Our Christian history and heritage permeate every aspect of our world. We talk candidly of food smelling heavenly, discuss the demons we face, and throw around expressions like “falling from grace,” “forbidden fruit,” and “ashes to ashes” without even thinking of their original theological meanings. Much of our morality – the fundamental question of what it even means to be a good person – can be traced back to the teachings of the Son of Man.

Nijay K. Gupta’s new book Strange Religion depicts the early Christians as weird yet compelling.