The Gospel of Buddha was modeled on the New Testament and told the story of Buddha through parables. It was an important tool in introducing Buddhism to the west and is used as a teaching tool by some Asian sects.

Carus believed that the modern world required a new Religion of Science. Inspired by the meetings and conversations at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1893, he had decided that Buddhism was the closest faith to his ideal and created The Gospel of Buddha to popularize the religion in the West.

The work was assembled from existing English translations of Buddhists texts, with significant amendments and reworkings. His selection of texts favoured Buddhism as a philosophy without any supernatural elements. This interpretation proved popular in the West. It proved a popular success, with a number of reprintings. It also influenced the development of Modern Buddhism in the 18th century in East Asia, notably in a Japanese translation of the book by D. T. Suzuki.