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Zealot
- The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
- Narrated by: Reza Aslan
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
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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.
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Full of larger-than-life characters, stunning acts of bravery, and heart-rending sacrifice, Tried by Fire narrates the rise and expansion of Christianity from an obscure regional sect to the established faith of the world's greatest empire with influence extending from India to Ireland, Scandinavia to Ethiopia, and all points in between.
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Best history of Christianity I've read
- By JOHN F KANARY on 05-05-16
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Creating Christ
- How Roman Emperors Invented Christianity
- By: James S. Valliant, C. W. Fahy
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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This explosive work of history unearths clues that finally demonstrate the truth about one of the world's great religions: that it was born out of the conflict between the Romans and messianic Jews who fought a bitter war with each other during the first century. The Romans employed a tactic they routinely used to conquer and absorb other nations: they grafted their imperial rule onto the religion of the conquered.
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life is one big lie
- By Anonymous User on 12-25-19
By: James S. Valliant, and others
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Christ
- A Crisis in the Life of God
- By: Jack Miles
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Jack Miles's book is a provocative and revisionary look at the life of Jesus, in which many of the most well-worn truths about Christ are recontextualized and revisited. It does not look for the historical Jesus, but takes the Gospels as the sole source about his life.
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Missed a lot of stuff
- By Wintertao on 01-08-21
By: Jack Miles
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David Lynch
- The Man from Another Place (Icons)
- By: Dennis Lim
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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At once a pop culture icon, cult figure, and film industry outsider, master filmmaker David Lynch and his work defy easy definition. Dredged from his subconscious mind, Lynch's work is primed to act on our own subconscious, combining heightened, contradictory emotions into something familiar but inscrutable. No less than his art, Lynch's life also evades simple categorization, encompassing pursuits as a musician, painter, photographer, carpenter, entrepreneur, and vocal proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
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Essential listening for Lunch fans
- By Michael P. Mesaros on 08-14-18
By: Dennis Lim
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What Jesus Meant
- By: Garry Wills
- Narrated by: Garry Wills
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In what are billed "culture wars", people on the political right and the political left cite Jesus as endorsing their views. Garry Wills argues that Jesus subscribed to no political program. He was far more radical than that. In a fresh reading of the gospels, Wills explores the meaning of the "reign of heaven" that Jesus not only promised for the future but brought with him into this life.
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The best book on Jesus I've read.
- By Jack on 10-29-11
By: Garry Wills
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The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1, Revised and Updated
- The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation
- By: Justo L. González
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 18 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1, Justo L. González, author of the highly praised three-volume History of Christian Thought, presents a narrative history of Christianity from the early church to the dawn of the Protestant reformation. From Jesus' faithful apostles to the early reformist John Wycliffe, González skillfully traces core theological issues and developments within the various traditions of the church, including major events outside of Europe, such as the Spanish and Portuguese conquest of the New World.
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Throughly engaging
- By Scott Pursley on 12-15-16
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Simply Jesus
- A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters
- By: N. T. Wright
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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“Jesus - the Jesus we might discover if we really looked,” explains Wright, “is larger, more disturbing, more urgent than we had ever imagined. We have successfully managed to hide behind other questions and to avoid the huge, world-shaking challenge of Jesus’s central claim and achievement. It is we, the churches, who have been the real reductionists. We have reduced the kingdom of God to private piety; the victory of the cross to comfort for the conscience; Easter itself to a happy, escapist ending after a sad, dark tale. Piety, conscience, and ultimate happiness are important...."
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A must read for today's church
- By Joey A. on 03-17-12
By: N. T. Wright
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Paul and Jesus
- How the Apostle Transformed Christianity
- By: James D. Tabor
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Historians know virtually nothing about the two decades following the crucifixion of Jesus, when his followers regrouped and began to spread his message. During this time the man we know as the apostle Paul joined the movement and began to preach to the gentiles. Using the oldest Christian documents that we have - the letters of Paul - as well as other early Christian sources, historian and scholar James Tabor reconstructs the origins of Christianity.
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Paul or Jesus?
- By James on 01-29-13
By: James D. Tabor
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Understanding the Bible
- By: John R. W. Stott
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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This book answers foundational questions: Who wrote the Bible? What is its message? Why is it thought to be a 'holy' book? How does one read and interpret it? Best of all, though, you'll broaden your vision of Jesus Christ, the focal point of Scripture. How? By better understanding the geographical, religious, and historical concerns that shaped the world in which he lived.
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Excellent exposition of the Christian faith
- By GW on 02-25-12
By: John R. W. Stott
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A.D. The Bible Continues
- The Revolution That Changed the World
- By: Dr. David Jeremiah
- Narrated by: Roger Mueller
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The greatest revolution of all time was about to begin.... When Pontius Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, he thought he was putting an end to the Jewish uprising that had been threatening the authority of the Roman Empire. What Pilate didn't realize, however, was that the real revolution was just getting started.
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This book fills in and explains so much more!!
- By Patricia Hambsch on 08-29-15
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Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy
- A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel
- By: John Shelby Spong
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A man who has consciously and deliberately walked the path of Christ, John Shelby Spong has lived his entire life inside the Christian Church. In this profound and considered work, he offers a radical new way to look at the gospels today as he shows just how deeply Jewish the Christian Gospels are and how much they reflect the Jewish scriptures, history, and patterns of worship.
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understanding the jewish thoughts in the Gospels
- By John on 08-30-18
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The Truth About Muhammad
- Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion
- By: Robert Spencer
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Truth about Muhammad, New York Times best-selling author and Islam expert Robert Spencer offers an honest and telling portrait of the founder of Islam - perhaps the first such portrait in half a century - unbounded by fear and political correctness, unflinching, and willing to face the hard facts about Muhammad's life that continue to affect our world today.
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Enlightening
- By Cx30 on 12-09-06
By: Robert Spencer
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As a student of Woodrow Wilson at Princeton, Howard Baskerville was aflame not only with the gospel of Jesus, but with the Wilsonian gospel that constitutional democracy is the birthright of all nations. Rather than become a small-town minister like his father in South Dakota, he volunteered for missionary service in Persia. Tabriz in 1907 was a hotbed of democratic revolution. Brilliant young firebrands were among Baskerville’s students at the Presbyterian school—and became his devoted friends. He lectured on freedom; they dedicated their lives to it.
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Based on a careful analysis of the earliest Christian documents and recent archaeological discoveries, The Jesus Dynasty offers a bold new interpretation of the life of Jesus and the origins of Christianity. The story is surprising, controversial, and exciting as only a long-lost history can be when it is at last recovered.
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Jesus, Interrupted
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Picking up where Bible expert Bart Ehrman's New York Times best seller, Misquoting Jesus, left off, Jesus, Interrupted addresses the larger issue of what the New Testament actually teaches...and it's not what most people think. This is the book that pastors, educators, and anyone interested in the Bible have been waiting for, a clear and compelling account of the central challenges we face when attempting to reconstruct the life and message of Jesus.
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Take a college course in New Testament in a book
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In this long-awaited successor to his #1 best seller The Best and the Brightest, David Halberstam describes in fascinating human detail how the shadow of Cold War Vietnam still hangs over American foreign policy, and how domestic politics have determined our role as a world power.
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War in a Time of Peace
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Bringing to life the world of the Old and New Testaments, the acclaimed creator of the bestselling Don’t Know Much About® series transforms dry, difficult reading into colorful and realistic accounts. Relying on new research and improved translations, Kenneth C. Davis uncovers some amazing questions and contradictions about what the Bible really says: Jericho’s walls may have tumbled down because the city lies on a fault line; Moses never parted the Red Sea; There was a Jesus, but he wasn’t born on Christmas and he probably wasn't an only child....
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decent survey of the topic
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In this sweeping narrative, which takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright's findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy.
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Very heavy reading
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Misquoting Jesus
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When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today.
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Understanding Manuscripts
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By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The Triumph of Christianity
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Christianity didn't have to become the dominant religion in the West. It easily could have remained a sect of Judaism fated to have the historical importance of the Sadducees or the Essenes. In The Triumph of Christianity, Bart Ehrman, a master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, shows how a religion whose first believers were 20 or so illiterate day laborers in a remote part of the empire became the official religion of Rome, converting some 30 million people in just four centuries.
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Another Piece of the Jesus Puzzle
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Excavating the Evidence for Jesus
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Archaeologist Dr. Titus Kennedy has investigated firsthand the discoveries connected to Jesus’ birth, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection. He has visited and excavated where Jesus walked and examined the artifacts connected to Jesus’ life. Here, he presents a comprehensive overview of the research and findings that illuminate the historicity of Christ as presented in the Bible. As you listen, you’ll be able to decide for yourself whether the evidence confirms the existence of Jesus and determine whether the Gospels are worthy of being approached not as legends but as history.
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My Top Pick for Archaeological Evidence for Jesus
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Jesus
- Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
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- Unabridged
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In this highly accessible discussion, Bart Ehrman examines the most recent textual and archaeological sources for the life of Jesus, along with the history of first-century Palestine, drawing a fascinating portrait of the man and his teachings. Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation of the New Testament (and other surviving sources, including the more recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Peter), Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet.
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I must read for those whose wanting to expand their insight from a single perspective (devotional) to include historical
- By RGO on 11-25-19
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Forged
- Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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It is often said, even by critical scholars who should know better, that “writing in the name of another” was widely accepted in antiquity. But New York Times bestselling author Bart D. Ehrman dares to call it what it was: literary forgery, a practice that was as scandalous then as itis today. In Forged, Ehrman’s fresh and original research takes readers back to the ancient world, where forgeries were used as weapons by unknown authors to fend off attacks to their faith and establish their church.
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Faith shaking
- By Fletch on 09-05-12
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The Case Against the Case for Christ
- A New Testament Scholar Refutes the Reverend Lee Strobel
- By: Robert M. Price
- Narrated by: Robert M. Price
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Leading New Testament scholar Robert M. Price has taken umbrage at the cavalier manner in which Rev. Lee Strobel has misrepresented the field of Bible scholarship in his book The Case for Christ. Price exposes and refutes Strobel's arguments chapter-by-chapter. In doing so, he has occasion to wipe out the entire field of Christian apologetics as summarized by Strobel. This book is a must-read for anyone bewildered by the various books published by Rev. Strobel.
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One seriously bitter man
- By Kellie on 04-08-21
By: Robert M. Price
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Jesus Before the Gospels
- How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Throughout much of human history, our most important stories were passed down orally - including the stories about Jesus before they became written down in the Gospels. In this fascinating and deeply researched work, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Erhman investigates the role oral history has played in the New Testament - how the telling of these stories not only spread Jesus' message but helped shape it.
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Insightful, but with limited depth
- By Jacobus on 05-28-16
By: Bart D. Ehrman
What listeners say about Zealot
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Tad Davis
- 07-21-13
Vivid and well-researched
Reza Aslan has tackled a big project in this book: not just a biography of Jesus, but also a recreation of life in first-century Palestine, combining anecdotal evidence from the New Testament and other writings with the latest evidence from archaeological and sociological investigations. For the most part he succeeds brilliantly. It's one of the most vivid books on this subject I've read in nearly 40 years of study.
I might not feel so positively toward it if his take on Jesus was too far removed from my own. But it isn't. Aslan leans toward the Bart Ehrmann school of thought rather than the NT Wright or Jesus Seminar approach. His Jesus is an apocalyptic prophet who goes to Jerusalem with every expectation that God will intervene in history in a spectacular and visible way; but the Kingdom of God that he's spent a couple of years preaching and predicting (and possibly much of his life preparing for) fails to materialize.
This is not to say his take on Jesus is one of complete skepticism. More rationalist / humanist readers may be surprised at the weight he gives to the miracles of Jesus. Here he seems to most closely reflect the views of John P Meier, who points out that the standard historical criteria for New Testament research - the criteria of multiple sources, dissimilarity, and the like - when applied to the question of Jesus' miracles, lead to the conclusion that he was, in fact, a "doer of mighty deeds" - or at least that the people who knew him, friends and enemies alike, never questioned that he was a healer, exorcist, and wonder-worker.
The same is true of Aslan's discussion of the resurrection. There are no eyewitness accounts and no physical or archaeological evidence for the resurrection, and so it can't be evaluated by historical methods; but it's clear that "something happened." Of all the people who proclaimed themselves Messiah during this period - and Aslan gives a great deal of attention to the other messianic figures - Jesus is the only one whose followers remained devoted to him, who continued to proclaim his messiahship (and later his divinity) long after the crucifixion.
Aslan describes three types of messiahs that appear in Jewish literature leading up the the time of Jesus. The most obvious one is the kingly messiah, the descendant of David who would restore the twelve tribes of Israel; but there were also messiahs-as-liberators like Moses, and messiahs-as-prophets like Elijah. He evaluates the evidence for and against and suggests that, even though he was reluctant to proclaim it openly, Jesus thought of himself as the kingly Messiah. His choice of twelve disciples to "rule the twelve tribes of Israel" is only one piece of evidence to that end. There is also his many references to himself as "the Son of Man," which Aslan connects to the kingly figure depicted in the book of Daniel.
Aslan also gives remarkably full coverage of the early church, up to the time of the writing of the Gospels. Peter is here, as is James, the brother of Jesus, and Paul: and in the controversy that plagued the relationship of James and Paul, it probably comes as no surprise that Aslan believes James was closer to what Jesus actually proclaimed. One of the big problems of the early church, as Aslan describes it, is explaining how, if Jesus was crucified, he could have been the kingly Messiah he thought of himself as being. Aslan's conclusion, like that of many mainstream scholars, is that the disciples resolved the problem by redefining the Messiah as a suffering servant who would one day return in glory to judge the living and the dead. It can be defended with reference to different parts of scripture, but it doesn't reflect any concept of the Messiah that preceded the crucifixion of Jesus.
Aslan narrates the book himself. I'm not a great fan of self-narrated audio books, and there are times when I think he emphasizes the wrong word in his own sentence; but he is an enthusiastic reader who carries the narrative momentum forward with clarity.
I recommend the book highly. I've already listened to it twice (the second time, granted, at double-speed for the sake of review), and I plan to listen to it many timesa in the future.
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- Jason Comely
- 07-22-13
Stunned...
I should mention I'm a devout Latter-Day Saint. I've read the King James Bible cover to cover and study it daily. Jesus Christ is my Saviour.
I found listening to Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth to be an exhilarating experience. I had the audiobook playing as I worked and I ended working extra hours to listen to more.
Reza narrates with energy and conviction in his voice. His storytelling is fantastic. I felt a chill down my spine through most of the listening. There were lots of insights and surprises.
I don't agree with everything Reza said, but that's not the point. I was looking for fresh glimpses at who Jesus was and now I have a whole new perspective.
With Zealot, if you're looking for reasons to believe in Christ, you'll find them here. If you're looking for reasons not to believe in Christ, you'll find them here too.
Personally, my love and reverence for Jesus of Nazareth has only increased since listening to this book. I'm grateful to Reza for that.
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- Kendra
- 07-22-13
Palastinian Politics 4 B.C.E. - 70 C.E.
The title of this book is provocative and in your face, and just it was supposed to do - it drew my attention. I did not feel, however, that the book itself was all that confrontational. Whatever your persuasion, the author's overview of the apocalyptic fervor in Palastine, particularly Galilee, is helpful for understanding the time period. His account of the life of Jesus is well written, but familiar to most secularists I imagine, but the history of Christianity after the death of Christ and before the destruction of Jerusalem was not something I had heard before and I enjoyed it immensely. This book is probably best described as an overview of the politics of Palastine before, during, and after the life of Christ, and how those interactions influenced Christianity.
I always prefer to have authors read their own work. I'm not sure what it adds, but I like it better. Good narration.
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- Margaret
- 07-18-13
Meet historical Jesus
I was amazed at the speed with which I listened to this book. Reza Aslan narrates his own work with understanding and a sense of urgency that kept me engaged to the end.
I suspect that experts in the time period may find this work introductory, but there was a lot here that was news to me: for example, the significance of Jesus being from Nazarene, of the Messianic fever sweeping the people under Roman occupation, and why the Romans hung a sign on the cross that read "King of the Jews." (hint: They labeled every cross with the crime committed. Standard operating procedure.)
While I'm interested in textual criticism generally, this gave me a much clearer sense of what it felt like to live in the time of Christ. Recommend.
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- Brett
- 07-26-13
Occam's Razor Applied to Jesus
Who was Jesus and what did he preach? Does it match the gopsels message? How did Christianity become so popular? These are amongst the questions that Reza Aslan answers in this book that attempts to find the most plausible history to Jesus and the story of Christianity.
Most of those interested in this book know how it turns out so no spoilers to worry about, and so I will give you the short answers proposed....
Jesus was an itenerant preacher-healer that took over John the Baptist's mission upon John's death. This mission challenged the Jewish leadership and Roman rule. Jesus preached of a new world order that would come in his lifetime. He preached this message to the unsophisticated and poor and found a good following. His mission climaxed when he entered the temple at Jerusalem and kicked over tables and unleashed animals. At this point he became a criminal wanted for sedition, and for his sedition he was ultimately executed.
His message was not of peace and love to everyone rather it was about how the Jewish world was corrupt and needed clensing. It was a message to Jews for Jews. In the years after his death much of what he taught was changed to make it more palitable for new converts and to smooth over relations with the ruling class. Early church leaders like Paul completed hi-jacked Jesus's message and changed it so that he was God not man and so that gentiles were the primary evangelical target.
I have read a lot of religious material both from a faith perspective and from the historical perspecitive. Nothing I have ever read in this subject area has been as gripping as this narrative was to me. I really appreciate the context that was drawn around Jesus's life and the answers given to many of the inconsistencies in the new testament. I realize that there are other answers out there but this book took the simplest approach and most plausible I have ever read to explaining Jesus. The only downside was that the author would often jump around in history by many years which was a little confusing at first. I also wish he had devoted more time to the resurrection. That said I like the pacing and the length which helped this from becoming boring like so many other books on the subject.
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- PeacefulSeeker
- 07-20-13
About as historically accurate as The DaVinci Code
I will finish the book, most likely, because it's somewhat interesting.
It's not approvable as a dissertation. I've only read about 1/3 and am distracted by mistakes like Aslan's assertion that the Zealots arose around the the Temple resistance in the latter half of the 1st century. He also claims that Jerusalem was called Aeolia Capitolina after Vespasian's triumph (it was 60 years later under Hadrian). He says that Jesus "the Christ" began with John Mark in 70CE (Pauline epistles use the term extensively and they were written in the 50s).
His preface says that this is the fruit of 20 years of research which is something I cannot buy.
For anyone who knows little about the 1st century, just be prepared for some exciting fiction a la The Davinci Code, which I also enjoyed, once I could overcome the offensiveness of the fantasy.
It's about as historically accurate as The DaVinci Code but not nearly as entertaining.
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- meg
- 08-15-13
Relax, no harm done to JC
What did you love best about Zealot?
I liked that the author, Reza Aslan, did not resort to any kind of sensationalism but only stuck to the history of Jesus Christ and his followers.
Who was your favorite character and why?
This is not a "pleasure" read but a very informative history so there are no "characters", only real people during very, very difficult times.
What does Reza Aslan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
The author has an excellent reading voice. His complete submersion and obvious knowledge of his subject matter held me in a way just reading the book would not have.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
There was not just one moment. The whole book moved me deeply. Understanding how life was so long ago helped me to understand the reasons for the events that took place.
Any additional comments?
Many people will not read this book because they may feel this author may be trying to tear down their faith and what they believe the truth to be. I say, don't be afraid. Read it. You will come away with your faith intact and deeper but in a more realistic way. The true path Jesus would want you on is plainly revealed to you in this book. This truth will be clear to the thinking Christian as well as the thinking Muslim. You will not have to rely so much on "hope" and "faith" with so much secret doubt.
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- Jacobus
- 08-08-13
Do we meet the American moderate Muslim Jesus?
Did the early Christians transform their leader from a ‘revolutionary Jewish nationalist’ into a ‘peaceful Spiritual leader with no interest in any earthly matter’ in order to gain converts from the gentile Roman world? Reza Alsan, ex-Evangelical Christian turned moderate American Muslim and religious scholar, thinks so. His argument begins at the crucifixion. Accordingly Jesus was crucified as an insurrectionist, just like the two political bandits who hanged next to him. For Aslan Jesus was a Zealot - though he makes it clear that he was not from the later Jewish Zealot party - his zeal for his people and his political awareness made him a threat to the Roman Government.
Aslan points out very early in the audiobook that every gospel account about Jesus was written after the Jewish revolt against Rome in 66 C.E. Like most scholars of the New Testament today, he claims that the gospels should be read in light of the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. For Aslan the consequences of the temple’s destruction lead to a very similar outcome in Second Century Judaism and early Christianity. These two movements sought to divorce themselves from the radical messianic nationalism that lead to the war against Rome and the temple’s destruction. Rabbinic Judaism emerged when Jews centred their life on the Torah rather than the temple. Early Christianity divorced itself from the messianic zeal, not only because of being excluded from Judaism, but also because the Romans were now the people from which this movement had to gain converts to grow. Thus Jesus the Zealot had to be made more presentable. Aslan argues basically that he had an image makeover.
In this book Aslan attempts to claim the Jesus of history, the Jesus before Christianity. He tries ‘to reclaim the Political conscious Jewish revolutionary who walked the Galilean country side 2000 years ago, gathering followers as part of his messianic movement with the goal of establishing the kingdom of God, but whose mission failed after he entered Jerusalem, attacked the temple and was captured and crucified.’ His method is to clean the ‘literal and theological’ add-ons of the New Testament up. Starting with the verifiable - Jesus’ crucifixion - he claims to forge a more accurate picture of Jesus, notwithstanding many scholars being sceptic that it cannot be done.
The book is divided into three parts. In Part 1 Aslan presents a summary of Josephus’ History of the Jewish War placing Jesus squarely within the political and social background of his time. He focusses on the various false messiahs, who with their eschatological zeal failed to rise to political power and was suppressed by the Roman Empire. Part 2 focus on what we know about Jesus of Nazareth as a person within history. Aslan begins with the crucifixion as historically verifiable and seems to add Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem and some basic claims, like his wonderworking ability and exorcisms to his sketch of Jesus. He also debunks Luke and Matthew’s birth narratives, while describing Jesus as a lowly peasant who spoke out against the great divide between rich and poor in his time. Lastly in Part 3, Aslan debunks Paul and the Pauline branch of Christianity as out of synch with the earliest and truest followers of Jesus of Nazareth, those who accepted James as their leader. He makes the dramatic claim that the Jesus of history died with the martyr Stephen when he called to Jesus as God before his death.
Listening to the audiobook I got the impression that Reza Aslan brought Richard Horsley’s political anti-colonial Jesus with something of Jon Dominic Crossan’s fighter for the poor and oppressed and Burton Mack’s historical consciousness together. He seems to have used Gerd Lüdemann’s argument of great turmoil, diversity and divide within earliest Christianity to construct his picture of the Jerusalem church and the role of James, the brother of Jesus, within the movement.
Here are a few questions that came to my mind while listening to the audiobook: How much would this critical Jesus sketch agree with a similar sketch of Muhammad today? Did I hear a very Lukan construction of Jesus’ agenda? By ignoring the aspect that the gospels as literature, I suspect that he might have projected Jesus’ own agenda ‘the coming of the kingdom of God’ onto John the Baptist. How does he know that the above came from John? If Pontius Pilate was sending almost every Tom, Dick and Harry to the cross, doesn’t it undermine Alsan’s historical reconstruction of a very politically active minded Jesus? Isn’t there too much focus of the discontinuity between various New Testament books, thus ignoring the continuity within those same books?
I think that Aslan’s book describes a type Jesus that could only be constructed listening to the most critical of Jesus scholarship. This allows him to strip Jesus down to the bare minimum. While adding a lot of the insights from New Testament scholarship over the last few years, this enables him to conceive a zealous Jewish and very political Jesus, who seems to me might have a modern-day agenda. His style of writing, often using a word as “ludicrous” or “absurd” when dealing with historical improbabilities within the gospels, feels very confrontational at times. This is the type of language that places you within a group or outside it. Thus using insider and outsider language, Aslan effectively wants the listener to see things his way, if not, well then… you are probably an idiot?
The value of Aslan’s book lies within bringing a vast array of research - though be it in my opinion a bit biased - together, thus producing yet another “mostly” American portrait of Jesus. The portrait is valid and for most of the part Aslan seems to stand on sturdy ground. Yet he reduces Jesus to very little and seems to fill it in with those aspects that might fit the founder of Islam. The book is written in short chapters bringing over time and again the point that Jesus was a Roman insurrectionist who was crucified by the Roman authorities. At some point it felt like a mantra. Yet Alsan has placed a book on the table that has popularised minimalistic critical New Testament scholarship, making it accessible to John and Jane Dow.
Reza Aslan narrated the audiobook himself. I couldn’t help to think of the fervour of Shane Clayborne while listening to Aslan. He read with zeal. It comes across that this Jesus that he has constructed is really the Jesus he believes in and defines his understanding of how to follow him.
This is one of those books that you might need to take note of. It could shape popular opinion about who Jesus is or was for some time to come. Listen to it with a critical ear.
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- Anonymous User
- 01-12-20
A history of Christian mythology
This book does a good job of discussing the life and times of Jesus the man. I found it interesting that the politics of 2000 years ago so closely matches the politics of today. Not surprisingly, Jesus the man was a liberally minded social reformer. I'm pretty sure he'd be pissed off to realize how Catholics created a mythology around him to subjugate people and how "prosperity gospel" Evangelicals are selling greed in his name.
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- Israel
- 10-22-16
Unfortunate...
The title drew me. I'm always looking for information that helps make Christ more real to me....
Unfortunately what's starts out as a promise to help the listener understand the times and environment that Christ lived in, quickly degenerates into an attack on the person of Christ and His disciples. Motives are questioned, and fantastic suppositions made, characters are trashed (I'm being modest) and the New Testament is essentially left in the dog house. I really tried to stay the course with this book, but it became a bit unbearable around chapter 11-13.
If you want to arm yourself with unbelief and scorn in the deity of Christ and everything else that a Christian may hold dear, this is the book for you. The author does a thorough job of it. Bravo!
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