As many of you know, my book Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West (Simon & Schuster) is coming out next month: March 24.  The issues I address in the book are obviously central to what we do here on the blog, and I’m unusually excited about this one.  It is now available for pre-order, and later in the post I’ll explain why it might be worth ordering-pre. But first I’d like to say something in general about it.
The only reason an author writes a book of non-fiction (OK, or SHOULD write a book!) is because it deals with something that is both significant and of interest to readers.  I’ve tried to write books for a general audience that cover issues important  and even intriguing to people interested in the Bible, the historical Jesus, the history of early Christianity, and the Christian religion in general.  This book is a different because I think it is IMPORTANT.  To lots of things.  To be sure, for anyone who is a Christian, a former Christian, a person interested in things Christian, etc.  But also, simply and plainly IMPORTANT for our current moment and for anyone living in it.
Here’s how I describe the project:

Most people I know are moved by news of tragedy.  A terrible earthquake, a drought, a famine, a flood, displaced people, innocent victims of military aggression, — we feel pity for those who pointlessly suffer and sense a desire, even an obligation, to help, for example by donating to disaster relief.   Almost never do we know the people in need; they are complete strangers, often in far-off lands, whom we will never meet and possibly wouldn’t like if we did.  Yet we – at least multitudes of us – want to help.

This sense of moral obligation to strangers in need is not written into the ancient human DNA nor did it exist in the roots of our Western cultural heritage, in Greek civilization from the literary and philosophical greats of Homer and Plato onward or in the Roman world from its earliest history to its first Christian emperor Constantine many centuries later.  The sense that anyone should help random strangers in far-away places was simply not part of the moral equation.

Why then is it part of the equation today?  Why does this urge to provide assistance — for some of us quite intense, for others admittedly faint — seem like moral “common sense,”  not just among religious folk but among agnostics and atheists as well, a common sense that affects not only our individual psyches and actions but also widely-held social agendas and governmental policies?  

My argument in this book will seem obvious to some and implausible to others: the impulse to help strangers in need is part of our modern moral conscience because of the teachings of Jesus.  My claim is that as Christianity spread throughout the ancient world after Jesus’ death, it revolutionized the understanding of ethical obligation, leading to a fundamental transformation in the moral conscience of the West.

This claim will seem counter-intuitive to a lot of people; that’s why it requires a book rather than two paragraphs!  But the book is easily accessible and full of information not widely talked about or known to matter (how often do you yourself spend time thinking about Epicurus, Seneca, or Basil the Great?) (and how could most people possibly imagine they might be interesting?!?).  And, in the author’s humble opinion, important.  Maybe I said that already.

My publisher (as publishers always are) is interested in promoting pre-sales, purchases of the book before it comes out.  To that end, we are making some nice offers.  Check them out.  Tell your family and friends.  Put up some billboards.  Here they are.

Free Companion Bonuses for Love Thy Stranger

Readers who preorder before February 15 will gain access to some educational extras. These are meant to extend the historical questions explored in the book and to give readers a chance to engage more directly with the issues I address in the book.

  • A free two-lesson companion course, taught by yours truly, exploring the historical and ethical themes of Love Thy Stranger
  • A live online event with me, including a moderated Q&A, scheduled for February 15.
  • Additional curated materials — including three videos that I will prepare for the event (and only the event): one on the serendipities that happened that led to this book in the first place, one on why a non-believing agnostic-atheist would write a book celebrating a key element in the teachings of Jesus; one on a scarcely-known secret of publishing a book like this.  These videos will be released only only to registered readers

From my end, a pre-order would do me a favor; it (weirdly in my view, but so it is) significantly affects the book’s visibility and reach even well after publication, and so helps historically-grounded scholarship find a wider public audience.

Unlock Your Access

To gain accesses to these extras, you only need to follow two simple steps:

  1. Pre-order the book. It’s available at all major book retailers or at your local bookstore.
  2. Visit www.lovethystranger.com to register and access your bonuses. Be sure to preorder and register before February 15 to attend the remote-pre-launch party with me.

 

My hope is that this book gives you a new way to think about something we usually take for granted and shows why it matters right now.