Eamonn Bredin invites all who wish to be disciples of Christ to look again at the Jesus of the New Testament and at the struggles of those first disciples who saw Jesus die as a criminal on the cross, and then to embark on a journey of re-assessing their own lives and discipleship on Jesus' terms.

The signposts for that journey include the language that Jesus used, his new images of God and of God's kingdom, the selfless lifestyle of commitment to the poor and the sinners, his acts and attitudes which scandalised his contemporaries and co-religionists, and, finally, his death and resurrection. Bredin gives the modern reader little chance to hang on to a Christianity that is comfortable in the face of the suffering and pain that still cries out for the redemptive presence of Jesus.

All Christians are called to be that very presence, through a truly committed discipleship in the contemporary world.