The first Christians confronted a cultural environment vastly more hostile than today's. They had no powerful backers, very little money and numbered no more than a few hundred. Yet they revolutionised the ancient world and spread their movement far and wide.

There is a deep, pervasive crisis of meaning and purpose across all Western societies today. Greg Sheridan encourages us to listen to the voices of the early Christians, and emulate their commitment, integrity, resilience and smarts. He shows how early Christians built communities, met persecution with courage and grace, dispensed universal mercy during plagues, pioneered equality for women, and redefined the nature and purpose of the human experience, always with Jesus Christ at the centre of their lives.

He also charts the journeys of modern Christians who live by those same values today: Leila and Danny Abdallah, who met great suffering with great forgiveness, young people making a radical commitment to faith, country pastors, and Christians inspired to welcome and help the homeless. He profiles cultural leaders who communicate Christianity with great effect, including Marilynne Robinson, Jordan Peterson, Bishop Robert Barron, Pastor Mark Varughese, former US Vice President Mike Pence and Dallas Jenkins, the creator of The Chosen television series.

It's a powerful and inspiring message of what living Jesus-centric lives, seeing God in every human being, and finding access to the transcendent for ordinary people can mean. It could once again transform our fractious, polarised world.

'An inspiring book about resilience and resistance - for anyone facing hostility over what they believe.' - Richard Glover, ABC

'The early Christians converted a good part of the classical world - the cruel world of 'Gladiator' - through the example of decent, humane, noble lives. There are important lessons to be drawn from that today, when Christians are called to be a culture reforming counterculture in a civilisation that's lost its bearings.' - George Weigel, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington DC

'A wonderful mix of historical observation, social commentary, and moving interviews. This is a book that sceptics and the faithful will find hard to put down.' - Rev. Dr. Michael F. Bird, Ridley College