Read Zealot, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Online
You can Download on this link #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 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..
Reviews I haven't read the whole book yet, but so far the most fascinating point in the book he makes is how the early Christians turned Jesus into a figure that is not concerned with earthly ambitions, but rather with the kingdom of Heaven, which would definately not be a threat to the Romans, and as such, would give early Christianity a chance to survive. So perceptive, so telling. It is a point of view that won't win over those who prefer a romantic, fairy tale belief. But we are humans after all, and the story of how religions are born are far more extraordinary than the fairy tales we create about them. ================================================== The best thing about "ZEALOT" is it has provoked thought and opened a conversation about Jesus among his followers and those who are not.
Two thousand years ago, there was also a lively debate about who Jesus was. Until the days of Emperor Constantine, all the churches were hot beds of individuality and not the institutions that have become big business today. Viewing the resurrection of Jesus as PHYSICAL was a late developing tradition in early Christianity, which was called The Way until the days of Paul, in the third decade. Paul as well as the gospel writers of Mark and Matthew made NO such claim that the burst of life, light and energy that accompanied the birth of Christianity was dependent on any orthodox theology or dogma. The writers of the synoptic gospels-Luke, Matthew and Mark- were NOT eye witnesses to the life and death of Jesus/AKA The Prince of Peace and these gospels [good news] were not based on eye witness memories. Instead, they were liturgical works organized around the Jewish liturgical year and were NOT to be taken literally, but probed within the Jewish context. Jesus was never a Christian; but a social justice, radical nonviolent revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who challenged the job security of the Temple authorities by teaching the people they did NOT need to pay the priests for ritual baths or sacrificing livestock to be OK with God; for God already LOVED them just as they were: poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under a brutal Roman Military Occupation. What got Jesus crucified was disturbing the status quo of the Roman Occupying Forces and teaching subversive concepts such as God preferred the humble, the poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under a brutal Roman Occupation above the powerful, elite and arrogant. "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth" could compel 21st century Christians to see and hear their Lord with new eyes and ears and keep this conversation ongoing.
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