Love Thy Stranger

When you hear of a devastating earthquake thousands of miles away, you might reach into your pockets to make a donation. That’s the fault of an itinerant Jewish preacher from Palestine, an obscure backwater of the Roman Empire, otherwise known as Jesus Christ. Kindness to strangers is not hardwired in our DNA. Nor was it esteemed by the great canon of ancient Western philosophy – the Greeks and Romans prioritised generosity to your friends and family. When Jesus told his followers to give up everything they owned to the poor, he heralded a moral revolution. The needy, the sick, the outcast were to be cared for – even if they were unknown to you. This was a tough pill to swallow for early Christians, and to this day, many insist Jesus didn’t really mean it. Nonetheless Jesus’ most radical commandment transformed the moral conscience of the West: its legacy lives on in public hospitals, the billions given in charity each year and even government welfare.

When you hear of a devastating earthquake thousands of miles away, you might reach into your pockets to make a donation. That’s the fault of an itinerant Jewish preacher from Palestine, an obscure backwater of the Roman Empire, otherwise known as Jesus Christ. Kindness to strangers is not hardwired in our DNA. Nor was it esteemed by the great canon of ancient Western philosophy – the Greeks and Romans prioritised generosity to your friends and family. When Jesus told his followers to give up everything they owned to the poor, he heralded a moral revolution. The needy, the sick, the outcast were to be cared for – even if they were unknown to you. This was a tough pill to swallow for early Christians, and to this day, many insist Jesus didn’t really mean it. Nonetheless Jesus’ most radical commandment transformed the moral conscience of the West: its legacy lives on in public hospitals, the billions given in charity each year and even government welfare.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus comes a surprising history of Jesus' most radical commandment--a new kind of altruism--tracing how the extraordinary duty to love even those who are strangers to us has shaped our world and our lives. When we donate money to victims of natural disasters, or offer our forgiveness, or consider it a government's responsibility to provide some basic assistance to those in need--, we are (knowingly or not) demonstrating the enduring legacy of a particularly Christian kind of love. For centuries, Greek and Roman moral philosophers prioritized generosity towards friends and family. Even Old Testament exhortations to love your neighbor gave little reason to consider the suffering of those beyond your own community. Jesus changed all this, introducing a revolutionary new ethical obligation to love those you didn't even know--unconditionally--and to demonstrate that love through acts of care. The implications of this radical commandment would be debated, misunderstood, and resisted by early Christians. But by the fifth century, a new "common sense" began to transform the moral conscience--and the politics--of the West. In Love Thy Stranger , New Testament historian Bart D. Ehrman charts the causes and consequences of this ethical revolution with his signature sly humor and verve. For in this moment of renewed debate over the limitations of Christian love, Jesus' most demanding commandment remains a thrillingly provocative one, even two millennia on.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus comes a surprising history of Jesus' most radical commandment--a new kind of altruism--tracing how the extraordinary duty to love even those who are strangers to us has shaped our world and our lives. When we donate money to victims of natural disasters, or offer our forgiveness, or consider it a government's responsibility to provide some basic assistance to those in need--, we are (knowingly or not) demonstrating the enduring legacy of a particularly Christian kind of love. For centuries, Greek and Roman moral philosophers prioritized generosity towards friends and family. Even Old Testament exhortations to love your neighbor gave little reason to consider the suffering of those beyond your own community. Jesus changed all this, introducing a revolutionary new ethical obligation to love those you didn't even know--unconditionally--and to demonstrate that love through acts of care. The implications of this radical commandment would be debated, misunderstood, and resisted by early Christians. But by the fifth century, a new "common sense" began to transform the moral conscience--and the politics--of the West. In Love Thy Stranger , New Testament historian Bart D. Ehrman charts the causes and consequences of this ethical revolution with his signature sly humor and verve. For in this moment of renewed debate over the limitations of Christian love, Jesus' most demanding commandment remains a thrillingly provocative one, even two millennia on.