I had reason recently to search NYTimes.com for the word “gospels.” 5,420 hits were returned. What struck me the most was how many NYT reader comments refer to them. You can try it yourself and see.

Frequently, the story that the readers are commenting on are quite secular in nature. One in particular, caught my attention in the Freakonomics Blog. A tenet of Freakonomics is that human behavior is guided by selfish incentives. A reader asked what Jesus’ incentive was in getting crucified. The blog author, Stephen Dubner, doesn’t answer the question, but we will let you know when he does. In the meantime, maybe we could sell him a book.