A Light to the Gentiles Summary and Analysis

In this chapter Karen Armstrong deals with the dramatic rise of a charismatic faith healer in North Palestine, a man named Jesus. As Armstrong points out, the earliest account of his life is found in the Gospel of St Mark, which was written forty years after Jesus' death. Even by that time the historical facts were being overlaid with mythical elements, which purported to explain facets of his life in the context of the beliefs of his followers.

Using the writings and gospels of the New Testament as a basis for her exposition, Karen Armstrong points out that Jesus himself never actually claimed to be God and that the expression "Son of God" does not bear the same connotation in Hebrew as it does in Greek, neither was there any semblance of a...