A brilliant addition to Nixey's oeuvre- this is a wonderfully entertaining look at the life of Jesus through the lesser-known and less-discussed writings about the Son of God. This book provides an extraordinary primer on some non-canonical texts and how that pertains to the greater zeitgeist of modern Christianity. Nixey is a gifted writer and this book is engaging for even those without a degree in theology. For fans of Dan MacClellan and Bart Ehrman, give this one a chance!

With the subtitle, “Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of God,” Catherine Nixey’s book Heretic is expected to raise eyebrows.
Greek and Roman writers, she says, created parodies of the many so-called prophets. To them, Jesus was just another claimant putting on the mantle of son of God. While in the marketplace, magicians, witches, and astrologers promised health cures, in the temples, people asked divine beings for help by offering miniature models of their afflicted anatomy. Some practitioners used tricks to make the blind see, the lame walk, and the dead rise because it helped businesses boom. So how could they tell if Jesus was the real deal?

Besides his message, what set Jesus apart was tradition. Yet Apollonius of Tyana (b. 15 CE, d. 100 CE) had a similar backstory: An angel visited his pregnant mother; the heavens marked his birth with a lightning bolt; he preached and gained followers; he raised the dead; the Romans put him on trial; he vanished, presumably died, and then reappeared to his followers. Nixey argues Jesus and Apollonius’ trials and deaths are foreshadowed by the philosopher Socrates (c. 470 BCE to 399 BCE).

There’s no doubt that the historical Jesus existed. Yet anomalies exist about his life in the New Testament, like two gospels claiming his virgin birth while other canonical books give Joseph the credit and provide his and Mary’s ancestry. As the cult of Jesus spread, some followers incorporated their own ideas and stories, plus bits of other faiths and spiritual leaders into their religion.

At this juncture, I expected Nixey to slap back with how the New Testament created uniformity for Christian beliefs. She does explore the Apocrypha and the Nag Hammadi scrolls and how their stories add to the Bible. But I had hoped she’d mention how the official canon was chosen, why she thinks some books were not included, and tempt us with the possibility of secrets hidden in the Vatican Apostolic Archives or in undiscovered caves.

Instead, we read how Christianity grew exponentially when Emperor Constantine (c. 272 to 337 CE) converted to Christianity and how Roman roads carried the Christian message to the far reaches of the empire and beyond. And then, since she’s a classicist scholar, Nixey bemoans the great loss of Greek and Roman art, manuscripts, and buildings—destroyed by the Holy Roman Empire. Between that, the horror of the Crusades, the laws of persecution, and the unholy desire to control the world, I’d say the Church also stomped on Jesus’ main message: Love.

The closing chapters show how Christianity tried to erase the classical world—its pantheon of gods, philosophy, science, medicine, law, literature, arts, and architecture—in deference to the Church’s desire for control and real estate.

Heretic is a work of history not theology, as Nixey states in the author’s note. It’s written for popular audiences.

I wasn’t expecting to come away from this thoroughly entertained and smiling? And yet! I wouldn’t call this a deep dive on the subject of Jesus and non canonical writings but more a summary of a little bit of everything in one place. It’s a bunch of fun facts linked together, which I love and found very easy to read. Slyly critical and enjoyable for people like me who love to say “hey did you know”. Excellent!

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a lot about modern Christianity, let alone the webs of its history.
This book however gives incredible insight to the non-canonical scripture/s and what beliefs and religion used to look like. I really did enjoy reading "bible stories" that differed to the ones I grew up with, I'll definitely be doing further reading on some of these topics later on.

What a fascinating read! I am someone who previously had only passing knowledge of the culling process which occurred during the formalization of the New Testament. As such, I found some of the narratives in this to be a wild ride. The author made the subject matter accessible while also presenting insightful, critical analyses of these non-canonical works and the context in which they were created. In fact, the discussions of historical and social contexts was probably my favorite part of the book.

For those considering reading this, I initially had an ereader copy and found myself frustrated at how often I wanted to flip back and forth. I had a much easier time with a physical copy. I am usually fine with either format, but this was definitely one book I wanted to hold in my hands.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for my eARC!

This is a marvelously revelatory--and borderline shocking--treatment of the crucified Jesus' many incarnations in the early literature of the Christian faith.. A couple centuries later, of course, we've ended up with the pacific Christ, miracle worker, healer, gentle mora[ phi[osopher. But in certain other gospel accounts==the ones that didn't pass muster with the leadership of the expanding 3rd century, increasingly Roman church--we meet stunningly different Jesuses, vindictive, violent, even murderous. If you're interested in the early hictory of Cartholcism, a time when the prelates were waging a bitter war against non-canonical portrayals of the Redeemer, pick this volume up. It's informative and eye-opening/

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and recommend it to anyone who has little to no background in early Christianity. I found the narration funny while still treating the subject with the dignity it deserves, and the subject is fascinating. However, I'm interested to see how this opinion will hold up, because after I finished, I learned that the expert reception to this book has been mixed. I'm excited to explore the recommendations I've seen and compare how they hold up with Nixey's take on heresy.

Heretic by Catherine Nixey is an outstanding and shocking book about early Christianity.

I have a BA in Religion from Amherst College. I'm now an atheist who still finds religion fascinating.

I told myself I'd skim "Heretic," but it was too engrossing.

The book's first half is stronger than the second half, but the first half is worth the full price, so get it.

It considers "Christianity alongside other classical religions." 
This may be heretical to hardcore Christians.
They may shout, "How dare you compare Jesus with Zeus or Thor! They're totally different! Jesus was truly the son of God!"

If that's you, you will dislike this book.

The book compares "Christian habits and non-Christian ones." 

It's "nonsense" that there was a single Christian message.

"There were many Jesuses, many Christs - many of them unimaginably strange to us today."

You'll learn about the myriad versions of Jesus. For example, there was the naughty young Jesus, who used his magical powers like Harry Potter (i.e., sometimes for questionable ends).
For example, in the 2nd century "Infancy Gospel of Thomas," Joseph says about Jesus, "Do not let him go outside the door, for all those who provoke him die." 

Nixey implies that, through trial and error, early Christians threw religious stories about Jesus onto the wall and saw what stuck. 
What stuck became the narrative we know today.
All the other spaghetti largely vanished. 

I learned that in 100 AD, there may have been about 7,000 Christians globally; literate ones were less than 100.

I learned that there are early Christian texts that said that Mary was not a virgin and that Joseph was Jesus's father.

Nixey makes a piercing argument against monotheism, proclaiming that only one God exists. 
Why does the Bible mention other gods?
"For if there were no other god, of whom would he be jealous?"

"Apollonius had so many similarities to Jesus: not merely the healing hands, but the miraculous birth, the divine backstory, the charisma, the preaching, the raising from the dead, the public trial, the ascension into heaven. . . . For centuries, Christian authors were emphatic: Apollonius was not merely evil. He was an antichrist."

They managed to practically erase Apollonius from the history of deities, even though he may have been more popular than Christ at one point.

The book concludes with a beautiful paragraph:

"This is a story about how ideas are born, and how they die. It is also a story about how they survive. It is about how ancient stories linger, and divine whispers persist. It is about how religions change and change again, as they travel, and age, and spread into other lands, and other ages. It is about how long memory is, and how short. It is about what was, and what might have been. It is also about what is. And it is about why, when midwinter falls, and cribs are set out, an ox and an ass stand and watch over the baby Jesus in the manger." 

If you have an open mind, read this book.

An interesting re-tread of some familiar (and some unfamiliar) historical context and extra-biblical texts that bring these concepts to a modern reader. I was interested because of its content but it slowly became a bit dense and dry.

As a christian, I found this really interesting. This is all about the different versions of Jesus that have existed throughout history. It's well researched and well written. If you enjoy learning about religions, then I would recommend this. Special Thank You to Catherine Nixey, Mariner Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reader, if you like your history (ancient or Christian, or any) told as a series of guffaws, with gags and a laugh track—this one is for you. The author is seemingly a serious person and an academic, but she has, you see, a bone to pick with Christianity. That can be a valid point of view and not at all disqualifying in and of itself. Except the way she does it is unserious and unacademic. The idea here is nothing new—that there were multiple early Christianities, that what became a “catholic” faith emerged out of a great deal of diversity and contention. That Jesus was… ah, who knows? Our sources differ. Yet anyone with any semblance of an interest in the subject would do well to look elsewhere—Ehrman, for one, does an excellent job of bring these topics to a lay reader. So does Elaine Pagels, and the wonderful Peter Brown. Here, instead, what one may otherwise be able learn is marred by the juvenile sarcasm and the constant “edgy professor” bit. It is exhausting and cringe-worthy in the early pages; by the end, it becomes well-nigh intolerable. As much as anyone may feel inclined, early on in the book, to rail against the stifling oppression of what became Christian dogma, the self-satisfied knocking down of straw men with volley after volley of cliche feels no less oppressive.

— with thanks and sincere apologies to Doubleday for an ARC via NetGalley

Short chapters and an irreverent tone make this a great read, beyond the obvious draw of the fascinating topic. Nixey paints a picture of a world so different from ours in how we think about religion, choice, heresy, blasphemy, etc. With all the turmoil over religion in the US now (especially white Christian nationalism), a good hard look at the origins of Western Christianity is in order, and Nixey delivers exactly that with great style.

Despite its irreverent tone and citation of many sarcastic and caustic comments about Christianity from Classical-era and medieval writers, the book will appeal to devout Christians who want to know more about how their particular strand of Christianity triumphed over the many many variations that existed for the first few centuries of the common era (known as A.D.), and to devout Christians who point at Christian evildoers and say "that's not 'real' Christianity."

An excellent read, and crucial for understanding how we got to where we are today and how we can make things better for the future.

This book explores the diverse and often contradictory portrayals of Jesus in early Christianity, revealing the process by which a single, canonical figure emerged from a multitude of competing narratives.

This is a well-researched and highly entertaining book. I agree with the author’s condemnation of the harmful ways in which Christian orthodoxy stamped out any competing ideas about Jesus and crushed other belief systems until no remnant of them remains.

She lost me, though, when she seemed to suggest throughout the book that all Jesus stories are equally valid. From a research perspective, I’m not sure how much we can say about Jesus of Nazareth, except that he was probably a historical figure who really existed. If the “Infancy Gospel of Thomas” is nothing more than Jesus fan fiction that in no way relates to the life or teachings of the historical Jesus, then it has nothing to do with Christianity. And even if you don’t believe in a historical Jesus, any belief system has to have a central narrative that casts off fringe elements.

It’s difficult for anyone raised Christian to come at this material from a neutral point of view. The author’s perspective seems to be (though she doesn’t say it) that it’s all myth, so how can one myth be truer than another? My perspective is that the people who compiled the New Testament were able to see where the beliefs converged and where they diverged, and come up with a coherent narrative. I’m not saying that I agree with all their choices. Just that I’m not too fussed that some people 1800 years ago wrote some wild Jesus fan fiction.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

History is written by the victors, they say, and Nixey’s book elucidates this. While not providing any hint towards which histories are more correct than others—the canonical Gospels, the apocryphal gospels, the critical, secular historians—she does show how the various sources existed concurrently with each other (perhaps). She gives voice to those who point out the similarities between the Jesus of the Gospels and other ancient deities, wizards, magicians who also are described in extant hagiographies (or anti-hagiographies). This is not a book for the faint-of-heart/faith but for those who want to discipline and firm up their faith with logic, reason. (In one passage, Nixey suggests that the Gospel of John’s famous opening could be written, “In the beginning was Reason….”)

While citing many works that come from 3rd-, 4th- and later centuries CE (AD) that contradict the Gospels, which have been traced to the 1st century, she merely points out the paucity of earlier editions of the apocryphal gospels and critical essays. Historians have cited the multitude of purges and book-burnings. Likewise, the author makes no claims as which of the contradictory versions are more accurate. Historians know that tracing sources closest to the time period are probably more true. Just think about various versions regarding the cause(s) of the American Civil War (1860s) exist—and which ones despite their popularity might still be false. Or the Jewish Holocaust during WWII and its deniers, in less than a few decades of its occurrence. JFK assassination. The moon landing. 9/11 instigators. 2020 election fraud. These are relatively modern examples of what the ancient illiterate world had to deal with: disinformation, misinformation and truth rolling around in a mud hole, and none coming out clean.

The major monotheistic religions have had to deal with accusations of suppressing alternative versions. The faithful’s retort to the accusation is, “God has ensured His word remains in its true form.” God who knows just how greedy, ambitious and manipulative we are and has chosen to trust some of pure heart will sort through the mess and help us discern the wise and helpful from the silly and destructive narratives.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is a bit of mysticism, a bit of religion and whole lot of history.

Heres what I learned- when Jesus was a young man “ Prophets” and “saviors “ were as common as “influencers” are today. They were everywhere claiming to heal the sick, cure the blind and raise the dead, plus the pesky Roman gods were still hanging around. Seems like they all had more ardent groupies than Dave Matthews. As it is today, religion was a business and there was stiff competition for followers.
Resurrection stories were common and tomb thefts happened with such frequency that the Romans had 51 inscriptions against it. Tombs used REALLY nice stone.
Religion and magic further blurred the lines- wasn’t anything miraculous just another word for magic?
There were many, many sacred texts that were popular for hundreds of years and though not in the bible can be seen in remnants via art work today- example the manger scenes with the donkey and ox on either side of the cradle- not in the current books of the bible. Its from “ the infancy of James”. one of the ancient stories detailing A much more vivid story of Jesus’ birth.
The heretic in the title comes in as the various versions of the bible battle for supremacy, and losing stories are buried.
Interesting read from a historical perspective, but lots here may make practicing Christians very uncomfortable, but I guess that’s the nature of heresy.

This books was so interesting! Gave me a lot to think about, new ideas and historical facts I didn’t know, and more authors to look into. Highly recommend if you’re interested in this topic!

A very interesting book that shows you can write an engaging book with little source material. I have read about the historical Jesus and the early church but there was a lot of material that I was unfamiliar with. Obviously this book would enrage some patrons but it is so well researched that I would not consider that an issue.

That nativity creche you put out every Christmas has its origins not in the New Testament found in most of our Bibles, but in minor accounts that the Catholic church has suppressed, vilified, and even destroyed, according to Nixey. She writes about these competing accounts and how one branch of Christianity (out of what she describes as a multitude of wildly different versions of the new faith) quickly gained prominence and smothered its competitors. Nixey has done her homework on this; note that this is not a theological analysis of these ancient stories, but a historical examination of the stories themselves.
This was originally published earlier this year in Britain under the title Heresy, and I think the publisher should have maintained that here in the US, as it better suits the content.
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

Catherine Nixey dives right into the history of Jesus along side those whose history is similiar to his. As a Jesus follower, it did give me insight into other figures in history that mirrored different life aspects as Jesus. Beginning with his virgin birth to his resurrection that at times made me wonder how can these stories be so similiar when they lived years apart and even countries away. These didn't sway my believe that Jesus' live could have been copied from these other individuals, but may be the other way around. This is an interesting book if you are wondering whose Jesus the only person who was born a virgin birth, died and was resurrected.

Today, Christians of all denominations believe that Jesus Christ is a unique figure in history whose life, death, and resurrection are accurately depicted in the four canonical gospels. In this riveting historical survey, author, classicist, and self-described ex-Catholic Catherine Nixey tells another story. Early Christians were aware of many alternative gospels, she writes, and held to many differing views of Jesus. Some of these ideas sound strange to modern readers. For example, there was a sect that believed in a version of Jesus who sold his brother into slavery, and another one that taught that Jesus murdered his earthly parents. Moreover, there were also other figures, such as the Roman sage Apollonius of Tyana, who were depicted as sharing some characteristics with the Son of God.

Unfortunately, what can be known about these competing versions of Jesus is limited. In its comprehensive efforts to stamp out heresy, the Church burned many documents and murdered adherents of non-orthodox sects.

The narrative is at its best when focused on early views of Jesus and the actions of the Church. I particularly wanted more detail on the Jesus who "cavorts with dragons," as mentioned in the NetGalley description of this book The author knows a lot about ancient Rome and adds a several digressions that I did not think benefited the text.

This book is well worth reading.

I received an electronic copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.