Scan barcode
A review by gadicohen93
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan
5.0
I've already been interested in the period and place — the Jewish revolts, the internal divisions during the Second Temple, the political tumult and rebellious zeal of the time. The premise of the book is convincing: Jesus as political, a precursor to the Zealots, striving to bring a revolution against Rome and against the Jews who act as Roman proxies at the Second Temple. Aslan throws light on the conspiracy of the New Testament, those four gospels that seemed intended as propaganda to convince denizens of the Roman empire that Jesus wasn't purely a political radical but a Godly being, God's son, performer of miracles, betrayed by Jews and resurrected. A conspiracy theory for the ages.
I had very little conception of the structure of the New Testament or their historical provenance before this book. The tale of Paul the Apostle — neé Saul — was fascinating: How he began as an anti-Jesus Jew, approved the killing of Stephen, then through his travels became a Christ evangelist. Aslan excelled most in setting the milieu — the atmosphere of the end of days, the political and social climate of the era of Jesus and after, beginning the story en media res with the Sicariis who carried their sicas to stab colluders with Rome, and weaving in the stories of John the Baptist — a Jew with his own cultish following whose baptizing rituals have been adopted by Christians — and Masada. Many myths were discarded: Jesus's place of birth — a fabrication to tie him to King David from Bethlehem; his travels around Sipphoris, a city I'd never heard about but had a chance to visit after reading this book (highly encourage!) Of course, the book came off as pop religion, pop history — but as someone with a non-shallow understanding of Jewish religion and history I couldn't find any glaring errors.
I had very little conception of the structure of the New Testament or their historical provenance before this book. The tale of Paul the Apostle — neé Saul — was fascinating: How he began as an anti-Jesus Jew, approved the killing of Stephen, then through his travels became a Christ evangelist. Aslan excelled most in setting the milieu — the atmosphere of the end of days, the political and social climate of the era of Jesus and after, beginning the story en media res with the Sicariis who carried their sicas to stab colluders with Rome, and weaving in the stories of John the Baptist — a Jew with his own cultish following whose baptizing rituals have been adopted by Christians — and Masada. Many myths were discarded: Jesus's place of birth — a fabrication to tie him to King David from Bethlehem; his travels around Sipphoris, a city I'd never heard about but had a chance to visit after reading this book (highly encourage!) Of course, the book came off as pop religion, pop history — but as someone with a non-shallow understanding of Jewish religion and history I couldn't find any glaring errors.