#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "A lucid, intelligent page-turner"
(Los Angeles Times) that challenges long-held assumptions about Jesus,
from the host of Believer
Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher 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 executed as a state criminal. Within
decades after his death, his followers would call him God.
Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on
one of history's most enigmatic figures by examining Jesus through the
lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived. Balancing the Jesus of the
Gospels against the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of
conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction. He explores the
reasons 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'
life and mission.
Praise for Zealot
"Riveting . . . Aslan synthesizes Scripture and scholarship to create an
original account."--The New Yorker
"Fascinatingly and convincingly drawn . . . Aslan may come as close as
one can to respecting those who revere Jesus as the peace-loving,
turn-the-other-cheek, true son of God depicted in modern Christianity,
even as he knocks down that image."--The Seattle Times
"[Aslan's] literary talent is as essential to the effect of Zealot
as are his scholarly and journalistic chops. . . . A vivid, persuasive
portrait."--Salon
"This tough-minded, deeply political book does full justice to the real
Jesus, and honors him in the process."--San Francisco Chronicle
"A special and revealing work, one that believer and skeptic alike will
find surprising, engaging, and original."--Jon Meacham, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
"Compulsively readable . . . This superb work is highly
recommended."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
