Jesus' world as one driven by culture wars. Religious conservatives think the elites have sold out to the global culture. The elites compromise with pagan Rome to hold on to their own power and prosperity. Outside the capital is a pervasive effort to purge the society of anything and anyone deemed not authentically Jewish.

Meanwhile, violent religious nationalists see Jesus with his charm and followers and decide that he must be the one to lead their uprising against Rome. Jesus, swept up in events not of his own design, must either accept the role of ill-fated messiah or somehow abort a movement that can only lead to the destruction of the nation.

Becoming Christ could not be more timely.