Zealot by Reza Aslan

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth is a historical account of the life of Jesus, written by Iranian-American writer and scholar Reza Aslan. Aslan analyzes religious perspectives on Jesus as well as the creation of Christianity.

He sets the scene of the tumultuous time during which Jesus lived and explains how this period influenced Jesus’s mission. Aslan also offers insights into the formation of the early Christian church and the tension between its first leaders.

Aslan’s central thesis in Zealot is that Jesus was a revolutionary who predicted Rome’s sudden overthrow and a restoration of Jewish political sovereignty, like many other messianic figures of that period.

He argues that after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the authors of the gospels had to “transform their messiah from a fierce Jewish nationalist into a pacifist preacher” and that “all traces of revolutionary zeal [had] to be removed.” However, Aslan notes that the disciples probably did have experiences of the resurrected Jesus, but concludes that whatever happened is “outside the scope of history.”

Useful takeaways from Zealot:

• Provides a lot of interesting information on the religio-political climate of 1st century Judea.
• There was a clash between the educated, urbanized, Greek-speaking Diaspora Jews and the Aramaic speaking followers of Jesus’s brother James, resulting in two competing camps of Christian interpretation: Paul vs James.
• Jesus was a revolutionary who predicted Rome’s sudden overthrow and a restoration of Jewish political sovereignty.
• The gospels are not our earliest Christian sources on the life of Jesus: Paul’s letters are.
• The disciples probably did have experiences of the resurrected Jesus, but whatever happened is “outside the scope of history.”

What I Liked

Very well-written book. Most nonfiction about the history of religion is so academic and dense…and boring honestly. I liked how approachable this book was.

What I Did Not Like

The book felt a little breezy with its sources. I appreciate the engaging writing and good flow, but also couldn’t tell exactly what was the author’s assertion and what was academically sourced evidence.

Interesting Pages