Abstract

Three hundred years before Christianity became a religion, Jesus taught the Way. His earliest followers identified as philosophers--adherents to the philosophy of Jesus. In this book, Daniel Austin Napier guides us to directly experience Jesus' unparalleled genius for renovating human life. A good tour guide, Napier gestures toward and describes other figures on the periphery--such as Socrates, Aristotle, and the Stoics--to whom Jesus may be fruitfully compared. But Jesus and his account of lasting personal change is the singular point of focus from beginning to end. With cross-disciplinary knowledge and gentle personal warmth, Napier presents a portrait of Jesus that you've never seen before but that you've been looking for. Perhaps you wonder: What's a soul and what's it good for? How could you locate it in everyday experience? Just how smart is Jesus? What did he say that changed his students so drastically? What are the essential ingredients of lasting personal change? What's it like to co-work with God, and how can you recognize when it's happening? What's so different, and so good, about the God whom Jesus calls Father? You will find lucid answers to all these questions and many more inside. You're invited. Come explore Jesus' philosophy of personal transformation.