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Zealot

the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Mar 19, 2016JP_Wright rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I give this book a 6 star rating! Very well researched material not to mention an incredible story telling that engages the reader. It took Reza Aslan 20 years to do the research and put this together. I will warn you that if you grew up in a traditional Christian home regardless of denomination, there are some very controversial arguments that you may not be comfortable reading. However, the point of the book is to tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth not Jesus the Christ. I was blown away by the author’s ability to paint the picture and describe the social and political issues of that particular time period. What makes this topic so difficult to research is that not much is known about the historical Jesus and the author had to reconstruct the setting based on accounts of other historians who wrote after his death. The fist gospel about Jesus wasn’t written until 40 years after his death. A lot had happened in that time frame which shaped the outcome of how Jesus was portrayed. Additionally, a majority of the New Testament was written by Paul who viewed Jesus in a different light than the disciples before him. Whatever your view point may be, I encourage every reader to look at this text with an open mind and decide for yourself what you believe and what you don’t. I choose to give credit where credit is due and I appreciate the author writing about such an important historical event that challenges people to examine the setting and issues from a different lens.