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Way argues for a progressive, de-mythologized Christianity that seeks to correct some of the doctrinal errors that have persisted in the Church for the past two thousand years. Like a growing number of academics and theologians, he argues that the Christian faith as it’s currently taught and practiced owes more to the apostle Paul than it does to the teachings of Jesus, who is presented here as an uncannily perceptive and persuasive Jewish peasant who sought to reform the Judaism of his time from within. Way maintains that the Church erred in proclaiming the divinity of Jesus, elevating this ordinary if uncommonly wise rabbi into the Creator of the universe. He asks Christians to acknowledge that the stories of the virgin birth, the miracles, and the resurrection are obvious embellishments meant to underscore the fact that a new thing in history was taking place through Jesus.
Way makes an eloquent and, at times, courageous case for a Christian faith stripped of its less rational elements, a Christianity centered on following the teachings of Jesus rather than professing belief in Jesus. It is a Christianity devoted to serving the poor, imprisoned, and marginalized. Way astutely notes the harm that has been perpetrated by well-intentioned Christians who held that faith in Jesus is sufficient to make one a good person and summons the moral zeal of the prophets in making the case for a human Jesus, one who serves as a model for behavior rather than an object of worship. The book also dismisses the possibility of life after death. On the whole, this is a much-needed manifesto, one that deserves a place on the shelf alongside the works of Bart Ehrman and John Shelby Spong.