This chapter examines the life of Jesus of Nazareth and how his teachings, style of life, and legacy shaped western thought. Emphasizing Jesus as both a historical figure and a moral exemplar, it explores how early followers remembered him and how later premodern readers interpreted him through close readings of the New Testament. Drawing especially on the Gospel of Mark and the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, the chapter shows how Jesus gained authority not through institutional power but through humility, parables, miraculous acts, and a radical ethical vision. He preached inward sincerity over outward ritual, taught that all people possess dignity in the eyes of God, and urged his followers to model their lives on his own. Key themes include divine justice, the challenge of wealth and status, and the contrast between worldly and heavenly authority. Jesus emerges as a moral teacher, healer, and disruptor of conventional hierarchies. His parables and aphorisms – especially those in the Sermon on the Mount – became foundational to Christian ethics. The chapter concludes by noting how Jesus’ model of life and speech created a movement that profoundly transformed the cultural and moral framework of the West.