Just finished the book THE ZEALOT by REZA ASLAN…
Through the years, I have read countless books on the so
called “historical Jesus” as opposed to the Jesus of faith but I feel this book
did advance a slightly different view point; one based on the historicity of
the area and the people, during the time of Jesus.
Some may ask what the difference is between the historic
Jesus and the Jesus of faith and the answer(s) usually convey the fact that
very few facts about the Jesus of history are known but can be somewhat deduced
from available information even if what is available is very scant. The Jesus
of faith is a person or god created by those who invented the Christian
religion and therefore also created a Jesus that met the needs of their
religion.
Aslan creates a very accurate picture of Israel in the years
slightly before the birth of Jesus to after his death and places Jesus (the
historic man) into that historic environment.
Stripped of all that theological mumbo-jumbo that colored
and obscured the real man of history; Jesus is easier to see and maybe
understand when placed in the context of “his” time in history.
I won’t go into all the details of this fascinating portrayal
of Jesus the man but some of those details maybe of some interest to people
that actually like to look behind what they have always been taught and get a
glimpse of what may have “really” happened.
One detail is that there were “many” so called messiahs in
the time of Jesus and all of them also performed miracles or works of magic,
whichever you prefer. Many of these “other” messiahs are actually better known
and better documented than Jesus himself was (no non-gospel data) like John the
Baptist was.
Aslan also deconstructs the New Testament stories that have
grown around the life of Jesus, citing historic facts that show why certain of
the stories just cannot be true as recorded based on historic data.
The book is not for everyone but for those like me that have
made the study of Christianity, a lifelong endeavor, you will be well pleased
with this book and it will add quite a bit to your knowledge of the subject.
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