On the Prospects of Christianity Bernard Shaw's Preface to Androcles and the Lion — Inside the Classic

The Gospels as Evidence

Shaw treats the four Gospels not as divinely inspired texts but as historical documents with varying credibility and literary qualities. He singles out Luke for special praise as a “literary artist” and notes the “touch of Parisian romance” in his narrative. Matthew, by contrast, is seen as imputing dignity to Jesus in a way that may obscure the historical figure. Shaw is careful to distinguish between the different portrayals, arguing that the Gospels are now “unintelligible to novices” because of the layers of interpretation and dogma that have accumulated. He does not claim to reconstruct the historical Jesus definitively, but he uses the textual variations to argue that the early Christian community shaped the stories to fit its evolving needs.

Economics and the Sermon on the Mount

A substantial portion of the preface is devoted to economic questions. Shaw argues that Jesus's teachings, particularly about wealth and distribution, are far more practical than the capitalist systems that have replaced them. He mocks the idea of distributing income according to merit, calling it “too silly for discussion” and imagining an examination paper that would ask for the monetary value of the virtues of Jesus versus Judas Iscariot. Instead, Shaw points to the example of a blacksmith, whose product is shown to be the result of an elaborate social organization, not individual effort alone. He concludes that Jesus remains “the practical man” while modern economists are the “unpractical visionaries.”

Paul and the Corruption of the Message

Shaw devotes considerable attention to the Apostle Paul, whom he sees as the true founder of Christianity as a religion, but also as the one who diverted it from Jesus's original message. Paul's success, Shaw argues, came from his ability to organize and to appeal to the Gentile world, but in doing so he introduced doctrines such as atonement and salvation that were foreign to Jesus's teaching. Shaw is particularly critical of the concept of hell and the idea that one can refuse atonement. He suggests that Paul's version of Christianity was more compatible with the Roman Empire and with worldly power, and that this is why it triumphed over the more radical, communistic vision of Jesus.

Readers approaching this preface should be prepared for a dense, argumentative text that moves rapidly between biblical criticism, economic theory, and social satire. Shaw assumes familiarity with the Gospels and with the history of Christian doctrine, but he writes with a sharp, often humorous style that rewards careful attention. The work is best read as a companion to the play Androcles and the Lion, but it stands on its own as a provocative essay on the gap between Christian ideals and Christian practice.