NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a renowned National Book Award–winning scholar, an extraordinary new account of the life of Jesus that explores the mystery of how a poor young man inspired a religion that reshaped the world.

“This is a brilliant and necessary book. Sober, wise, respectful, and fearless." —Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America

"The depth of spirituality she uncovers is profound.” —The New York Times Book Review

Early in her career, Elaine Pagels changed our understanding of the origins of Christianity with her work in The Gnostic Gospels. Now, in the culmination of a decades-long career, she explores the biggest subject of all, Jesus. In Miracles and Wonder she sets out to discover how a poor young Jewish man inspired a religion that shaped the world.

The book reads like a historical mystery, with each chapter addressing a fascinating question and answering it based on the gospels Jesus's followers left behind. Why is Jesus said to have had a virgin birth? Why do we say he rose from the dead? Did his miracles really happen and what did they mean?

The story Pagels tells is thrilling and tense. Not only does Jesus come to life but his desperate, hunted followers do as well. We realize that some of the most compelling details of Jesus's life may have been written by his disciples to paper over inconvenient facts, perhaps to avoid persecution. So Jesus wasn't illegitimate, as some said, but his mother conceived by God; Jesus’s body wasn’t left on the cross—instead, he was seen alive by his followers; Jesus isn’t a failed messiah—his kingdom lives in us. These details and promises electrified the Gospel writer’s listeners and helped his followers’ numbers grow.

In Miracles and Wonder, Pagels does more than indicate solutions to a historical mystery. She sheds light on Jesus's enduring power to inspire and attract.