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A Zealous review
Oct. 19th, 2015 12:38 pmHey,
After hearing his interview on a podcast recently, I decided to pick up a copy of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan. Three guesses as to what it's about.
Mr. Aslan attempts to paint a picture of Jesus and his life rooted on as much historical scholarship as possible. While he doesn't entirely dismiss the New Testament writings, he does try to lean on non-biblical sources. Since there is almost no historical record of Jesus outside the gospels, what follows is more of a general portrait on Jesus based on the times he lived in.
The short version is that Jesus was basically a wandering Jewish rebel who resented Rome's control of Judea and the temple hierarchy in Jerusalem who were supported by the Romans and were unlikely to upset the apple cart. Jesus's message was aimed at the Jews who got the short end of the stick in this deal -- mostly the poor and uneducated. This sort of agitation against Rome was common in the period and there were several self-proclaimed messiahs hoping to free Jews from Roman occupation.
The question is what happened that caused Jesus to become the foundation of a 2000 year-old religion while the others all disappeared. Mr. Aslan points to two major factors. First, after the Jewish Revolt and brutal re-conquest by Rome, it was decidedly dangerous to be associated with Jewish radicals and second, the apostle Paul re-envisioned Jesus and his message and made it decidedly non-Jewish and more spiritual and less about rebellion against Rome.
The book is fairly short. It's some 400 pages but easily half of that length is footnotes. The book itself is written in a fairly accessible manner but for those more eager to engage the author more deeply, he cites his sources.
I don't think I was blown away by any of the book's major points, but it was well-written and presented. I did enjoy the chapters about the early history of the church as it struggles to find its identity. I think it's incredibly telling that from very early on in its existence, there were always arguments and debates about Jesus and what he meant.
later
Tom
After hearing his interview on a podcast recently, I decided to pick up a copy of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan. Three guesses as to what it's about.
Mr. Aslan attempts to paint a picture of Jesus and his life rooted on as much historical scholarship as possible. While he doesn't entirely dismiss the New Testament writings, he does try to lean on non-biblical sources. Since there is almost no historical record of Jesus outside the gospels, what follows is more of a general portrait on Jesus based on the times he lived in.
The short version is that Jesus was basically a wandering Jewish rebel who resented Rome's control of Judea and the temple hierarchy in Jerusalem who were supported by the Romans and were unlikely to upset the apple cart. Jesus's message was aimed at the Jews who got the short end of the stick in this deal -- mostly the poor and uneducated. This sort of agitation against Rome was common in the period and there were several self-proclaimed messiahs hoping to free Jews from Roman occupation.
The question is what happened that caused Jesus to become the foundation of a 2000 year-old religion while the others all disappeared. Mr. Aslan points to two major factors. First, after the Jewish Revolt and brutal re-conquest by Rome, it was decidedly dangerous to be associated with Jewish radicals and second, the apostle Paul re-envisioned Jesus and his message and made it decidedly non-Jewish and more spiritual and less about rebellion against Rome.
The book is fairly short. It's some 400 pages but easily half of that length is footnotes. The book itself is written in a fairly accessible manner but for those more eager to engage the author more deeply, he cites his sources.
I don't think I was blown away by any of the book's major points, but it was well-written and presented. I did enjoy the chapters about the early history of the church as it struggles to find its identity. I think it's incredibly telling that from very early on in its existence, there were always arguments and debates about Jesus and what he meant.
later
Tom
