Zealot

The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

By: Reza Aslan

Narrated by: Reza Aslan

Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

From the internationally best-selling author of No god but God comes a fascinating, provocative, and meticulously researched biography that challenges long-held assumptions about the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth.

Two-thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher and miracle worker walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the "Kingdom of God". The revolutionary movement he launched was so threatening to the established order that he was captured, tortured, and executed as a state criminal.

Within decades after his shameful death, his followers would call him God.

Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history's most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived: first-century Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic fervor. Scores of Jewish prophets, preachers, and would-be messiahs wandered through the Holy Land, bearing messages from God. This was the age of zealotry - a fervent nationalism that made resistance to the Roman occupation a sacred duty incumbent on all Jews. And few figures better exemplified this principle than the charismatic Galilean who defied both the imperial authorities and their allies in the Jewish religious hierarchy.

Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction; a man of peace who exhorted his followers to arm themselves with swords; an exorcist and faith healer who urged his disciples to keep his identity a secret; and ultimately the seditious "King of the Jews" whose promise of liberation from Rome went unfulfilled in his brief lifetime.

©2013 Reza Aslan (P)2013 Random House

Critic reviews

"In Zealot, Reza Aslan doesn't just synthesize research and reimagine a lost world, though he does those things very well. He does for religious history what Bertolt Brecht did for playwriting. Aslan rips Jesus out of all the contexts we thought he belonged in and holds him forth as someone entirely new. This is Jesus as a passionate Jew, a violent revolutionary, a fanatical ideologue, an odd and scary and extraordinarily interesting man." (Judith Shulevitz, author of The Sabbath World)

"A bold, powerfully argued revisioning of the most consequential life ever lived." (Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief)

"The story of Jesus of Nazareth is arguably the most influential narrative in human history. Here Reza Aslan writes vividly and insightfully about the life and meaning of the figure who has come to be seen by billions as the Christ of faith. This is a special and revealing work, one that believer and skeptic alike will find surprising, engaging, and original." (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power)

An interesting perspective.

Not a great book to read for exegesis, but if one wants to understand the history around the time of Jesus and to better understand how a non-Christian biblical scholar understands Jesus this book is for you.

Awesome book! Very informative and moving!

This book had some controversy when it came out, and some hard-liners may not enjoy this book, but this tale of the historical Jesus is fascinating and epic! Reza Aslan does a wonderful job of really telling a fascinating story, putting a new context of Jesus and his life, and it really makes a lot of sense about the development and foundations of Christianity at the very earliest period, and taking the true historical nature of Jesus, and what he stood for. For Christians, people interested in religion, and even Romanophiles, this is a great epic tale!

Good intro to the historical Jesus

Researching early Christian history is basically a hobby of mine so I'm no stranger to the basic ideas this book is based on. If you are, I suggest the fantastic "Jesus Interrupted" by Bert Ehrman as it introduces the critical historical method of reading the New Testament from the standpoint of an everyday Christian.

That said, books of this sort will always make an attempt to place Jesus in his time and place, but the author offers a fresh perspective that illustrates a deep understanding of Jewish culture in the first century and its tangled relationship with Rome. Jesus and his apostles fit neatly into the picture he paints as revolutionaries who have a lot in common with other Jewish zealots. While I've often read about the Kingdom of God mentioned in early Jesus sayings as being an eschatological event, the author's suggestion that this was a revolutionary message about a coming theocracy is thought provoking.

His message about James is also very insightful. He describes his conflict with Paul in vivid detail and even shows what appear to be clear steps he took to undermine him. That said, the author's assertion that his epistle as a sermon of his is needlessly shaky.

That said, I recommend this whole heatedly. I always love when the author reads their own work and this book is no exception.

Tremendous job

A great account of the eternal question: Jesus of Nazareth vs Jesus the Christ. Thank you Resa for the unbiased search for truth.

Excellent book!!!

if you are looking to understand the historical Jesus the real Jesus and submerge yourself into his time and what what's going on at that time when he was around this book is sure. help you accomplish that I think it's extremely enjoyable and very factual and it's easy to tell how knowledgeable and well-documented the author is

Zealot

Really liked this one and read it twice and will read it again. Filled with information and it made me want to go find out if some of the things were true, partly true or false. Found it very interesting and thought provoking. Not so sure people with fixed ideas are going to like this book. Have a friend who thought it was blasphemy and refused to read the whole book. This book didn't bruise my faith but did make me look at history during this time. Found out how much I didn't know and was amazed at the things learned with a little research outside this book.

Great story. All Christians should read

What did you love best about Zealot?

That the author read it.

What other book might you compare Zealot to and why?

No other book that I have read it quite like it.

What does Reza Aslan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

That he wrote and read the book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reaction. It was good to hear another perspective and other facts about Jesus.

Fair and Mostly Unbiased

Strictly a portrait of Jesus from an historical prospective. Facts are interspersed with probabilities and likelihoods, but this book held my attention from beginning to end. This is one man's perspective based upon extensive work and study. In my opinion, it should be combined with the studies and reflections of others in forming one's opinions and beliefs.

Insight into the historical Jesus

I loved this book and it gave me a lot of supporting resources to follow-up with. I'm excited to use this as a launching pad into my own journey into Jesus and who he was.

Interesting perspective.

Historical veracity questionable when built on numerous single assumptions. This book is helpful to those in understanding the rise of Islam and return to a religion of law.