Christianity depends on the belief that the Jesus of hisory is identical with the Christ of faith, and that God in the person of Jesus intervened finally and decisively in human history. But is the historical Jesus the same as the Christian Saviour? And how did an obscure provincial relgiion based on the paradox of a crucified saviour conquer the Roman Empire and outlive it? Introducing Christianity confronts the enigmas. It sets Jesus in the perspective of his time - within Judaism and its expectations of a Messiah, in the atmosphere of Greek philosophy and the Roman deification of emperors. It traces the development of Christianity from St. Paul and the Romanization of the Church, to modern liberation theology. This book is a lucid and exciting investigation that should appeal to all readers, whether Christian or not. It is also the ideal companion volume to Introducing Muhammad and Introducing Buddha.