A wonderfully ambitious science fiction novel; the author boldly attempts to imagine what it would be like to meet an emissary from an alien culture that was both technologically, and, more interestingly, morally, far superior to our own. The first problem to tackle when structuring the narrative is, of course, that such a person would be beyond our comprehension. I approved of the solution chosen: the novel is recounted by multiple narrators, whose conflicting testimonies show that all of them are more or less unreliable. We thus have no more than confused echoes of the story. This is, paradoxically, more convincing than a direct telling, which could only have been disappointing.
The first part of the book is an account of the emissary's life on Earth, told through four different voices. The Christ character is extraordinarily sympathetic, and it is impossible not to warm to him. One almost feels that he is a real person, and I am sure I was not the only reader who consulted Google to find whether the novel was inspired by historical events; it says something about its power that I was disappointed to learn that Christ is not mentioned in contemporary documents. The book makes it clear that Christ is trying to help mankind, and I also like the author's decision not to be too specific about the form this help takes.
One dimension is, at any rate, ethical, and some of the most successful sequences portray Christ's attempts to teach higher ethical principles to the people he meets. The long speech on the mountain is particularly effective, as is the scene with the woman taken in adultery. In general, the alien ethical philosophy, based on principles of love and forgiveness, is beautifully suggested; it is notorious that people who read the book often go through a phase of actually attempting to follow its precepts in real life. Unfortunately, as anyone who has tried it will attest, this is easier said than done. I was less pleased with the episodes where Christ uses superior alien technology to impress humans, though some of them are, admittedly, enjoyably dramatic.
There is also another dimension to the help that Christ is offering humanity, which is deliberately left unclear. My reading was that there is disagreement between different factions within the alien culture concerning the way in which they are to treat the human race, and that Christ is in some way offering to take personal responsibility for our future good behavior. This is symbolized by the sequence where he allows himself to be killed by an angry mob. It is, again, unclear why this is important, and the reader cannot help making obvious objections. Christ could have escaped at any moment; also, he wasn't really killed, since the alien technology allows him to be revived shortly afterwards. Despite this, the crucifixion scene is extremely powerful. It is evidently impossible for us to understand the alien culture's politics, and I found it emotionally coherent to suspend disbelief, and take on trust the proposition that Christ is making a real sacrifice of some unspecified nature. When the first part concludes with Christ's return to his alien home, I could not help feeling moved and uplifted.
Even if the book ended here, it would be well worth reading; in my opinion, however, it is in the second part that the author reveals his true skill. The problem with Christ's teachings is, more or less by definition, that they are too advanced for people to be capable of fully understanding them. Initially, his followers seem able to keep the flame alive, despite the fact that they are cruelly persecuted by the society around them. The pivotal incident in the second half occurs when Saul, the Christians' chief tormentor, suddenly has a change of heart, and apparently decides that he will support them instead.
Saul (or "Paul", as he now styles himself) rapidly becomes the central figure in the cult; the rest of the book follows him as he successfully exploits the Christians' lack of understanding of their new religion, and reshapes it into a very different form. His reasons for doing so are left interestingly ambiguous. One possibility is that his antipathy to Christ's teachings is unchanged, and that he is only adopting more subtle methods, boring from within rather than attacking from without. It is also feasible to read the story as saying that he honestly believes he is continuing Christ's work, and is simply incapable of comprehending the alien message. A third reading is that he has, himself, been taken over by an alien intelligence, presumably belonging to the unnamed opponents of Christ's faction. Although the Saul / Paul character is much less sympathetic than the Christ one, he is undeniably at least as interesting in psychological terms.
The novel ends with the ironically titled "Book of Revelation" (apocalypsis - from "apo" ["from"] and "calypso" ["to hide"]); Christ's admirably lucid teachings have been transformed into a deranged apocalyptic rant. This comes across as far more dismaying than the very temporary crucifixion, since it is now Christ's ideas, rather than his body, which are tortured and disfigured. Though downbeat, it is hard to argue with the author's conclusion. One can well believe that this is exactly what would happen in practice.
Like most truly original books, The New Testament has its flaws. It is exhaustingly long, and the use of multiple unreliable narrators does not make it any easier to read. Even though the translation is beautifully done, and is a true labor of love, there are evident infelicities. But the positive qualities far outweigh the negative ones, and its enormous influence is richly deserved.
If only science fiction where always as interesting as this.