Striving to decode the intentions of the man whose death on a Roman cross changed the course of history, and confronting an image of Jesus that has prevailed for nearly 2000 years, The Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth advances that Jesus, far from seeking to found a new religion or even to improve on the old, was striving to free his fellow Jews from religious bondage altogether.

As Peter Gillies observes, By portraying his death as a sacrifice willed by YHWH, and in teaching his disciples to symbolically drink his blood and eat his flesh, Jesus unequivocally set the stage for a profound spiritual crisis to arise in the lives of his Jewish followers. In my view, he was not seeking to establish a new religious covenant, but rather to provoke the utter abrogation of the everlasting covenant that bound the Chosen People to their tribal God.

"The Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth is one of those adventurous books that causes a reviewer to wonder how it was ever achieved. I am reminded of the great fourth-century Christian translator, Jerome, who recalling his work of translating the Hebrew and Greek texts into Latin at the request of the reigning Pope remarked: 'Tears and groans were every day my portion ' This book is not a believer's interpretation. In fact, Gillies describes his work as 'a freethinking attempt to cut straight through to the heart of the mystery' of the historical Jesus. Having found imponderable problems in the teaching of mainstream Christianity - teaching based presumably on the four Gospels - he has gone to the text with a will. While his work allows ample room for debate and critique, its style and aspiration invite reading and study." - Robert Crotty, Emeritus Professor of Religion and Education, University of South Australia