“Since Jesus did not write, how did his teaching come down to us? Stephen Patterson’s fascinating and wonderfully readable new book reveals how Jesus’ followers told, wrote, rewrote, and handed down his teachings.” — Elaine Pagels, author of Revelations

“This accessible but scholarly introduction to the earliest Jesus traditions shares academic discoveries that do not usually reach the pews. It is a salutary reminder of how little we know about early Christianity and will introduce readers to the enriching complexity of any major tradition.” — Karen Armstrong, author of Fields of Blood

“In this book Stephen Patterson, a leading scholar in the Jesus Seminar, explores the terrain of primitive Christianity. He explodes popular myths and proposes startling new possibilities. One does not have to agree with all of his conclusions to find this book both fascinating and mind expanding!” — John Shelby Spong, author, The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic

“Stephen Patterson’s The Lost Way is at once a crisp and readable introduction to two ‘lost’ gospels, the Sayings Gospel Q, and the Gospel of Thomas, and an exposé of the unnoticed ways that alternate views about Jesus are present in the books of the New Testament.” — John Kloppenborg, University of Toronto, author of Q, the Earliest Gospel

“Reorients our basic understanding of the origins of Christianity and reclaims the missing strain of ancient Christian wisdom as part of the story of Christian origins. An illuminating, informative, and refreshingly accessible read - a book for anyone interested in the earliest layers of Christian tradition.” — Pamela Eisenbaum, authof of Paul Was Not a Christian

“A leading scholar of the Jesus Seminar . . . Patterson argues that [the earliest] sources reveal a different, fuller version of the historical Jesus and the way of ‘Wisdom.’ . . . clearly presented . . . a fascinating account.” — Library Journal