One Sentence Summary
Reza Aslan’s Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth is a historical account of the life of Jesus Christ that, through its captivating portrayal, attempts to put into context the life and times of one of the world’s most influential figures.
Book Genre
Nonfiction, Biography, Religious Studies, History.
Main Topic of the Book
This book looks at the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth and presents a new portrait of the man who has had an immense impact on the world.
Key Ideas
- Jesus was an itinerant Jewish preacher and revolutionary who attempted to overthrow of the Roman Empire in the name of God.
- Jesus was not a divine figure in his time. He encountered numerous obstacles in his mission and didn’t even gain a following until after his death.
- The Jesus of the Bible is far from the real Jesus. His teachings, his actions, and his intentions were all vastly distorted and manipulated by the Gospel authors.
- The core lesson of Jesus is one of radical inclusion. It was a message that recognized the rights and worth of everyone, no matter their creed or race.
Main Parts of the Book and a Short Summary
- Part 1: Background & Context: Reza Aslan starts off by setting the context for Jesus’s life. He lays down the background story of the Roman Empire’s occupation of Roman Judaea and the various political and religious issues of the time. He traces Jesus’s family tree and looks at the evidence of his childhood.
- Part 2: Jesus as a Man of his Times: This section of the book presents Jesus as a man of his times. It looks at Jesus’s mission, his followers, his interactions with the Pharisees, his teachings, and his eventual arrest and execution.
- Part 3: Jesus after the Cross: The third part of the book examines Jesus’s legacy. It looks at the movement sparked by his teachings, how different sects of Christianity evolved, and how various groups and individuals have interpreted Jesus’s teachings over the centuries.
- Part 4: Jesus in the Historians’ Eyes: The fourth part of the book looks at the various historical accounts of Jesus’s life and how they were influenced by the authors’ own beliefs and biases.
Key Takeaways
- Jesus was a real person who lived during the 1st-century with his own teachings, objectives, and mission.
- Jesus was a man of his times with both common and unique understandings of the world.
- Jesus’s teachings were radical for his time, calling for equality among all people and freedom from all forms of oppression.
- The Jesus of the Bible is far from the real Jesus, having been manipulated by the gospel authors.
Author’s Background and Qualifications
Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American academic and writer. He has a Ph.D. in religion from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is a New York Times bestselling author. He has written several books on the history of religion and is an experienced lecturer.
Target Audience
This book is intended for anyone interested in gaining a deeper knowledge of Jesus and his times, as well as for those who want an understanding of the history of Christianity and its relationship with modern religion.
Publisher and First Publication Date
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth was first published in 2013 by Random House.