Zealot recently shot to the top of the best seller list due to a notorious interview on Fox News, where Lauren Green began by asking the author why a Muslim would write about Christianity’s founder. His book is for the general audience with the express purpose of prying the historical Jesus away from the Christ of Christianity (120, 215-216). He now claims to be more devoted to Jesus than ever–a “committed disciple” (xx) of the “real Jesus”–not the “Jesus of faith.” Aslan thinks his portrait of Jesus, hidden behind layers of theology and centuries of interpretation, may in fact be more accurate than what the Gospels present (xxviii). After two decades of rigorous research into the origins of Christianity he concluded he had previously been duped, and returned to Islam (xix). I did enjoy the telling but it really didn’t change my opinion about anything.Reza Aslan grew up in a nominally Muslim family in Northern California, and converted to Christianity at age thirteen. I am still not sure if he is knocking Jesus, the apostles – or maybe all of the above. Yes, he makes great arguments for why his take is likely, but you know what they say about opinions…
He has no more proof than the writers of the gospels had. At the end of the day however, this is just his take on things. I found it interesting and certainly his take that Jesus was surely at times caught up in the fervor of the times made sense. While Aslan chided “historians” for doing that, it is exactly what he continues to do (albeit with an occasional historical reference thrown in to lend credibility.) The first premise is one that a lot of Jesus detractors use – the Gospels were written long after his death and fictionalized (and cherry-picked) to contribute to the goals of men. Other times however, it appeared exactly what Zealot set out to do. When I started reading, I thought I got something entirely different.Īslan’s preface that he was a Christian converted from Islam gave me hope that he was not set out to defame or downplay Jesus as the Christ. I wasn’t sure what to expect… from the description, I assumed I was in for a story explaining how Jesus was not divine but just a good man.
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan is a book that has been on my “to read” list for some time.
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