Aslan asks us to consider the historical human Jesus of Nazareth as distinct from Jesus the Christ, to the extent that we can see him at all in the historical record. And in fact, there is little historical information which is specific to Jesus. Aslan's method is to take the few known facts about Jesus and lay them against the totality of known historical information about his time and place and draw reasoned conclusions that way. There is a lot to think about here, but Aslan's primary point seems to be that Jesus can be understood in light of the many other apocalyptic messiah wannabes roaming 1st-century Palestine. They were itinerant preachers who, for the most part, challenged Temple authorities, sought a return to a Judaism uncorrupted by the exploitative practices of the High Priests, and got in trouble with the law, usually with fatal consequences.
Zealot was fascinating and completely absorbing and I have only a few criticisms. I found Aslan's frequent lapses into Marxist language rather silly, but this is harmless enough. People have been calling Jesus a proto-Marxist since Karl was in diapers. More troubling were Aslan's occasional statements, presented as factual, which are after all only logical surmises.
Still, this was a great read, my favorite part being the juicy information about the conflict between Saul/Paul in the diaspora and James, Peter and John in Jerusalem. Detailed and readable endnotes and a long bibliography.
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