Zealot (Aslan)

Zealot:  The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Reza Aslan, 2013
Random House
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781400069224


Summary
From the internationally bestselling 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.

Aslan explores the reasons why the early Christian church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary. And he grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself, the mystery that is at the heart of all subsequent claims about his divinity.

Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told even as it affirms the radical and transformative nature of Jesus of Nazareth’s life and mission. The result is a thought-provoking, elegantly written biography with the pulse of a fast-paced novel: a singularly brilliant portrait of a man, a time, and the birth of a religion. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—May 3, 1972
• Where—Tehran, Iran
• Raised—San Francisco, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Santa Clara University; M.T.S, Harvard
   University; M.F.A., Iowa Writers' Workshop; Ph.D.,
   University of California-Santa Barbara
• Awards—see below
• Currently—lives in Hollywood, California


Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American writer and scholar of religions. He is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, a Research Associate at the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy, and a contributing editor for The Daily Beast.

His books include the international bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (2005, 2011), which has been translated into 13 languages, and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (2013), which offers an interpretation of the life and mission of the historical Jesus. Aslan currently  lives in Hollywood, California.

Background
Aslan's family came to the United States from Tehran in 1979, fleeing the Iranian Revolution. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the age of 15 he converted to evangelical Christianity. He converted back to Islam the summer before attending Harvard. In the early 1990s, Aslan taught courses at De La Salle High School in Concord, California.

Aslan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in religions from Santa Clara University, a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction. Aslan also received a Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology, focusing in the history of religion, from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His dissertation was titled "Global Jihadism as a Transnational Social Movement: A Theoretical Framework."

In August 2000, while serving as the Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Aslan was named Visiting Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Iowa, becoming the first full-time professor of Islam in the history of the state.

Aslan was the 2012–13 Wallerstein Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Drew University Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict.

Writing
As Contributing Editor, Aslan has written articles for The Daily Beast. He has also written for various newspapers and periodicals, including the Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Slate, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Guardian, Chicago Tribune, and The Nation. He has made numerous appearances on TV and radio, including National Public Radio (NPR), PBS, Rachel Maddow Show, Meet the Press, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Colbert Report, Anderson Cooper 360°, Hardball, Nightline, Real Time with Bill Maher, Fareed Zakaria GPS, and ABC Australia's Big Ideas.

War on terrorism
Aslan refers to Al Qaeda's jihad against the west as "a cosmic war," distinct from holy war, in which rival religious groups are engaged in an earthly battle for material goals. "A cosmic war is like a ritual drama in which participants act out on earth a battle they believe is actually taking place in the heavens." American rhetoric of "war on terrorism," Aslan says, is a precise "cosmic dualism" to Al Qaeda's jihad.

Aslan draws a distinction between Islamism and Jihadism. Islamists have legitimate goals and can be negotiated with, unlike Jihadists, who dream of an idealized past of a pan-Islamic, borderless "religious communalism." Aslan's prescription for winning the cosmic war is to not fight, but rather engage moderate Islamic political forces in the democratic process. "Throughout the Middle East, whenever moderate Islamist parties have been allowed to participate in the political process, popular support for more extremist groups has diminished."

Religious freedom
Aslan has argued for religious freedom and protection for religious minorities throughout the Middle East. He has called for Iran to protect and stop the "horrific human rights abuses" against its Baha'i community. Aslan has also said that the persecution and displacement of Middle Eastern Christian communities "is nothing less than a regional religious cleansing that will soon prove to be a historic disaster for Christians and Muslims alike."

FoxNews controversy
On 26 July 2013, Aslan was interviewed on "Spirited Debate," a FoxNews webcast by anchor Lauren Green about his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. Green was "unsatisfied with Aslan's credentials," and she pressed Aslan, questioning why a Muslim would write about Jesus. The interview lasted about ten minutes and focused "on Aslan's background more than the actual contents of the book. Reading comments from Aslan's critics, Green included negative criticism from William Lane Craig, a noted Christian apologist.

In the end, Green claimed that "Aslan had somehow misled readers by not disclosing his religion," whereupon he pointed out that his personal religious faith "is discussed on page two of his book" and called himself "quite a prominent Muslim thinker in the United States." Green was almost universally criticized for the premise of her questions during the interview.

The video clip of the interview went viral within days and the book, which was up to that point selling "steadily," appeared at the 4th place on the New York Times print hardcover best-seller list. By late July 2013, it was topping the U.S. best-seller list on Amazon.

Academic credentials
Following Aslan's interview with Fox News, some questioned Aslan's academic claims. An article written by Manuel Roig-Franzia in the Washington Post entitled "Reza Aslan: A Jesus scholar who's often a moving target" observed that Green had asked "astonishingly absurd questions," but that Aslan was a "moving target" and described him as being "eager—perhaps overeager—to present himself as a formidable academic with special bona fides in religion and history" and "boast[ing] of academic laurels he does not have." The article quoted Aslan's dissertation adviser, Mark Juergensmeyer, as saying that he did not have a problem with Aslan’s characterization of his credentials.

A day later, the New Republic printed an article critical of the Washington Post piece entitled "Now The Washington Post Owes Reza Aslan An Apology, Too." The Philadelphia Inquirer article entitled "Reza Aslan's 'Zealot': Muslim's book about Jesus stirs things up" also defended Aslan’s characterization of his academic credentials, noting that UC Santa Barbara "is famous for its interdisciplinary program—students tailor their studies around a topic, not a department. They choose a department only for the diploma." The Nation's Elizabeth Castelli wrote that Aslan "reasonably opened himself to criticism" on the basis of his claim to speak "with authority as a historian."

Awards
2013—Media Bridge-Builder Award, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding
2013—Peter. J. Gomes Memorial Honor, Harvard Divinity School
2012—East-West Media Award, The Levantine Center (Author bio from Wikipedia. Retrieved 1/16/2014.)

Book Reviews
A real strength of the book is that it provides an introduction to first-century Palestine, including economics, politics and religion. Mr. Aslan uses previous scholarship to describe the precarious existence of Jewish peasants and the lower classes, and how the Romans and the Jewish upper class exploited the land and the people…Zealot shares some of the best traits of popular writing on scholarly subjects: it moves at a good pace; it explains complicated issues as simply as possible; it even provides notes for checking its claims…[Aslan] is a good writer. Zealot is…an entertaining read. It is also a serious presentation of one plausible portrait of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Dale B. Martin - New York Times Book Review

[A] compelling argument for a fresh look at the Nazarene, focusing on how Jesus the man evolved into Jesus the Christ.... Carefully comparing extra-biblical historical records with the New Testament accounts, Aslan develops a convincing and coherent story of how the Christian church, and in particular Paul, reshaped Christianity’s essence, obscuring the very real man who was Jesus of Nazareth. Compulsively readable and written at a popular level, this superb work is highly recommended.
Publishers Weekly


Aslan brings a fine popular style, shorn of all jargon, to bear on the presentation of Jesus of Nazareth.... He isn’t interested in attacking religion or even the church, much less in comparing Christianity unfavorably to another religion. He would have us admire Jesus as one of the many would-be messiahs who sprang up during Rome’s occupation of Palestine.... You don’t have to lose your religion to learn much that’s vitally germane to its history from Aslan’s absorbing, reader-friendly book
Booklist


A well-researched, readable biography of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth is not the same as Jesus Christ. The Gospels are not historical documents, nor even eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life..., and they certainly weren't written by the men whose names are attached to them. In fact, every word written about Jesus was written by people who never knew him in life.... Why has Christianity taken hold and flourished? This book will give you the answers in the simplest, most straightforward, comprehensible manner.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Zealot:

1. Begin with a discussion about the many ways Jesus has been presented throughout the ages—as itinerant preacher, faith healer, lover of peace, charismatic teacher, moral philosopher, Jewish rabbi, apocalyptic prophet, Messiah and the son of God. Do you have a particular way of seeing Jesus that predominates over others?

2. Overall, what is your opinion of Aslan's portrait of Jesus? Do you take issue with it? If so, what in particular do you find problematic? Or...do you find Aslan's book enlightening? Has it altered or made you rethink your ideas of who Jesus was? Or...does Zealot basically reaffirm your previous understanding?

3. In what ways does Aslan's portrait of Jesus add to, contradict, and/or confirm what others have said and written about Jesus?

4. Aslan claims that Jesus was a provocateur, that he entered Jerusalem in what was construed as a royal entrance. Do you accept the idea that Jesus was a "politically conscious Jewish revolutionary,” whose kingdom is rooted in this world, not the next?

5. Much has been made of Aslan's academic background. Does he have, in your opinion, the credentials as an historian and/or theologian to write this book?

6. What do you think of Aslan's own religious background: a conversion to Christianity followed by reconversion to Islam? As a non-Christian, can he rightfully claim credibility when writing about Christianity? Is he writing about Christianity...or is he writing about an historical figure? Is there a difference?

7. How and why did early Christians attemtpt to discredit John the Baptist and diminish his stature?

8. How does Aslan describe first-century Palestine, it's economic, political, and religious life? Who in this society consorted with whom...and at whose expense? In other words, who were the winners and who were the losers?

9. In what way was the Temple more than a place of worship? When Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers, why were Jews and Romans alike enraged?

10. How does Aslan describe the spread of Christianity?

11. The author insists that it was unthinkable for Jesus in his time to have been unmarried. Other recent scholarship has overturned that assumption. Perhaps you might do some research to explore the issue of marriage in first-century Palestine.

12. Follow-up to Question 11: What other current scholarship challenges or supports Aslan's book? How much of any Biblical scholarship, inlcuding Aslan's, is backed by evidence and how much is speculative?

13. One could say that Zealot is not a work of academic scholarship; it was written, instead, to appeal to a wider audience. If this was indeed Aslan's intent, has he succeeded in engaging you?

14. Talk about the parts of the New Testament about which Aslan is skeptical. Which Biblical narratives does he question...and why?

15. Have you read Bill O'Reilly's Killing Jesus, also published in 2013? If so, compare the two books: what do they have in common and what are their differences? What other Biblical histories or works of textual analyses have you read? How do they compare with Reza Aslan's Zealot?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

top of page (summary)