Zealot: The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Zealot portrays Jesus neither as a prophet nor as the son of God, but as a man actively engaged in the politics of his day. I really enjoyed this, though at times it was difficult to get through (not in terms of my own religious or political convictions, but simply from a readability perspective). I highly recommend this to anyone who holds an interest in Christian religion and specifically to the life of Jesus. Two things are important to note before continuing. First, I firmly believe in the living and miraculous Christ. Second, part way through the book, I decided it wasn't worth the read. Having said that, I grant that Aslan has truly done his research. He is articulate and relatively easy to read for as penetrating a work as he strives for here. I came away from this book with a far more clear and I believe more accurate view of life in Palestine during the time of Christ. I appreciate that. Aslan's preface to this work explains his disenchantment with Christianity and his reawakening, with a self-professed wizened eye. If I understand him correctly, he has greater reverence for Christ because of what Christ accomplished in spite of being the miraculous Christ the Gospels portray. I have two fundamental objections to this position. First, one cannot believe in Christ without believing in his miraculous life. Jesus claimed to be the Christ. He claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed to have come to save humanity from sin, death, and sorrows. If you say that He was one of many political saviors or village shaman's both capable of leading an insurrection and of casting out spirits like others before Him, you necessarily accuse Him of deceit, of falsehood. He cannot be both the Christ and a good man. Second, Aslan's so-called enlightened (I believe cynical) view of Jesus - or at least of the New Testament - and His life relies on historical records outside of the Gospels. He claims, and rightly so, that the Gospels are suspect in their record. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church). I believe that the Bible is the word, to the extent that it has been recorded correctly. Aslan believes because of mistakes that the entire record is suspect and relies more heavily on Josephus, the Apocrypha, and other contemporary records. I feel that it is unwarranted to rely on either record more than the other. And ultimately, I believe that rather than interpreting these shortcomings in the record as a cause to doubt the true divinity of Christ, they should turn us to the primary method for obtaining spiritual learning anyway: prayer and meditation. And ultimately, that is the problem many scholars who, as apologists or in an effort to reconcile Liberal Christianity with an imperfect record, have robbed Christ of His divinity because "it doesn't make sense" to our current views of normalcy. As individuals living in an age where what is commonplace today would have been seen as impossible only decades earlier, it seems inconsistent to declare that Jesus could not be the Christ who saved and healed and redeemed us all because the book making that assertion contains mistakes and questionable assertions. We must each pray, fast, and listen to what Paul refers to as the Fruits of the Spirit to know for ourselves individually, that we have no greater friend than in Jesus, our Lord and our Savior.Aslan has accomplished a very masterful work. I don't agree with all of his conclusions.
What do You think about Zealot: The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth (2013)?
Yeah it was good to get this historical perspective. Its great dinner conversation...;)
—audge
Really enjoyed this. It's definitely worth a read and is not preachy at all.
—ANNA123
