Many years of study of Christian origins have convinced some of us that it is impossible to be absolutely certain historically of any objective fact relating to the life of Jesus as handed on by tradition. -from the Foreword How much of the New Testament gospel story is true? This is the stunning question posed-and answered-in this provocative volume, first published in 1903 and just as startling today as it must have been a century ago. Mead, considered one of the greatest thinkers on the origins of Christianity and a renowned expert on Gnostic and Hermetic literature, considers the story of Jesus from a theosophical outlook, one that embraces the unifying, enlightening philosophies that underlie all religions. His explorations of the unclear boundaries between history and myth-and how they affect the modern Judeo-Christian traditions, practices, and beliefs-is a thoroughly humanistic one of immense value today, as we struggle to balance faith with secularism in our society. Also available from Cosimo Classics: Mead's The Hymn of Jesus and The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in Western Tradition. British scholar and philosopher GEORGE ROBERT STOW MEAD (1863-1933) was educated at Cambridge University. He served as editor of The Theosophical Society's Theosophical Review, and later formed The Quest Society and edited its journal, The Quest Review. He is also the author of Notes on Nirvana (1893) and an 1896 translation of The Upanishads.