parttimesarah 's review for:

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan

3.0

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3.25/5 for this exploration of the historical Jesus. I’m not sure I buy a lot of what Aslan says, specifically about Jesus’ attitude toward violence, and there is a fair bit of mentioning only part of some of the gospel stories he uses to defend his position, but I was glad to gain more historical context for first century Palestine and the messianic fever in which Jesus emerged. I’d maybe recommend it to those wanting to learn more about that history, but I’m not fully there on his thoughts about Jesus’ ministry. But hey, it’s only one book, you can’t say everything you might want to in just one book.