Reddit reviews Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

This thread is kind of full of similar comments to yours, so I just wanted to drop this info somewhere:

In Reza Aslan's Zealot, the author acknowledges that Jesus (specifically, Jesus; not by a general title) was called a magician. What's interesting, Aslan argues, is that his being a magician isn't out of the ordinary. We aren't suppose to understand the expression as some kind of an accusation, no one is calling him a fake or a charlatan. Magic was something that existed for people of Jesus's time and place; miracle workers were frequent in and around the Temple and the holy lands.

The remarkable thing about Jesus, this particular Christ and healer, was that he did all his miracles for free. And that was crazy. Magicians and healers made a living off their "abilities," whatever they might have been. So Jesus, as a magician, had distinguished himself from a number of his contemporary miraclemen.

Unfortunately, it is difficult for people with a Western Post-Enlightenment worldview to simply interpret what Pre-Modern Hellenistic Jews were writing, especially if unaware of the context.

I was supplying interpretations from biblical scholars and showing that there are multiple ways that people understand Jesus' divinity. I wasn't making any value statements that they are better or even exclusive of one another. These are just the ways that people read the text.

Edit: If you want to read some biblical scholars and their interpretations of what Jesus meant by claiming divinity.

[N.T. Wright- Jesus and the Victory of God] (http://www.amazon.com/Victory-Christian-Origins-Question-Volume/dp/0800626826)

[Marcus Borg- Jesus: A New Vision] (http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Vision-Spirit-Culture-Discipleship/dp/0060608145)

[Richard Bauckham- Jesus and the God of Israel] (http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-God-Israel-Testaments-Christology/dp/0802845592)

[John Dominic Crossan- Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography] (http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Revolutionary-John-Dominic-Crossan/dp/006180035X)

[Reza Aslan- Zealot] (http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/0812981480) Edit 2: Apparently his credentials are in some dispute and this particular book is pretty "pop theology" but I found this [post] (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2013/08/two-scholars-respond-to-the-actual-content-of-reza-aslans-take-on-jesus/) by a theologian I respect that gives some insight into the whole thing.

[Thomas J.J. Altizer- Contemporary Jesus] (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1876258.Contemporary_Jesus)

So, first, and I realize this isn't exactly comforting, but there will be a freak out time no matter what. There will be some time where you feel like the world is ending, and no matter what you do, it will still feel that way. It was that way for me (though we aren't the same, so maybe your experience will differ): every night, up late, praying and sweating and crying. Is there someone in the real world you can talk to? Having a meat body to grab onto for comfort is huge. Also, I wish I'd known about Reddit (not sure if it existed yet) when I went through my biz. This subreddit would have been amazing.

Ironically, part of what pushed me out of Christianity was learning more about it: being really on fire for it. When you learn church history from the church, it's very skewed and specialized, but when you step out of that and examine it from an objective historical point of view, things get crazy. And more calming.

In case you missed it elsewhere in this thread, John Shelby Spong was very comforting for me.

I think A History of God gets mentioned on this sub at least once a day. It's not an easy read, but immensely illuminating as it shows that, essentially, the guy we call god with a capital G is really just a lesser Canaanite deity worshiped by an insane shepherd. But because of Abraham's weird life, all of western history plays out.

It's been awhile since I read Jesus Interrupted, but if I remember correctly, it's about how what the historical Jesus probably said (because we can't possibly know) has been manipulated by history to satisfy different political goals.

Zealot tries to recreate to the best of the author's ability Jesus' world, the philosophies he grew up with, and the philosophies he most likely would have taught. Some parts of this read like an amazing novel, and it has some crazy historical stuff. It really blew my mind.

I read Pagan Christianity right at the start of my dark night. I've mentioned it before, and it confirmed a lot of my suspicions about Christianity actually being fancied up paganism (Zealot discusses that a little as well). It's written from very much a contemporary Christian perspective, so it has some errors that drive me nuts: i.e. Jesus almost certainly wouldn't have ever meant he and god were literally the same, because no half-serious Jewish person of any era would assert that.

It's stupid late where I am (and my toddler already makes sure I'm constantly sleep deprived), so the last thing I'll leave you with:

When I was going through my "dark night of the soul," I still considered myself Christian afterward for quite awhile. It's just that the kind of Christian I felt I had become was so radically different from what I had been that it warranted night sweats and crying. Since then, each progressive deconversion has been less and less painful by magnitudes. But while I was going through it, I kept thinking about a quote in some book I'd read about how, "God made you with the brain you have, the talents you have, the interests you have, and the curiosity you have: pursue that and glorify god." I reasoned (and I feel this is pretty solid) that if god were real, he'd have to be so outside our everyday experience that no one is getting it right; because if he weren't that alien to us, if he was even slightly comprehensible, he couldn't be god. And if god were real, he'd (it?) know how incomprehensible he is, and unless he were insane or evil, he couldn't possibly be just in punishing us for doing whatever we thought was best and in good conscience. The process was still painful, but it definitely made me feel better about ripping off that hairy band-aid.

If you don't already, I'd recommend writing as you go through all this. If you can stomach it, put it some place public, like a blog, so people can bear witness.

Dammit. I said I was going to bed 20 minutes ago.

Sorry-but-not-sorry for the wall of text.

For your husband's dad, what about some interesting spices or condiments he can cook with? I know Penzey's has some good gift sets, or you could do something like flavored olive oils paired with a new spatula/other cooking tool.

If your dad likes religious history, I've heard good things about Zealot (haven't read it myself though).

I really suggest you read this
(http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/0812981480/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413083374&sr=8-1&keywords=zealot+reza+aslan)

If you have a Kindle or smartphone, I can lend it to you for 14 days. Send my a private message if you want to read it.

I highly recommend that you read Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Resa Aslan. I read the entire thing (except for the author's notes) last year.

The author claims that according to Roman records, there definitely was a Jewish rebel named Jesus of Nazareth who staged a small tussle in the Jewish temple and was crucified by Rome. Jesus Christ as described in the New Testament is mostly a myth.

So to answer your question, Jesus of Nazareth was a real person who was crucified by Rome. The gospel accounts are written by believers for various reasons.

I'll second the Zealot recommendation.

I know about it. He does not have any academic credibility. If you argue otherwise, please link me a paper of him from a peer-reviewed journal.

Meanwhile, you can read Reza Aslan's Zealot if you wonder who truly Jesus were. Unlike Holland, Aslan is an actual academic scholar.

Here is the mobile version of your link

Zealot.

Possibly. One of the best books on the subject (although I'm sure strict Christians will call me a "heathen" or whatever...especially his other "major" book preached a lot about Islam, but he's still a great religious scholar) is Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan. The book focuses a bit too much on "trivial" details of the region but the pertinent details of "Jesus of Nazareth" are really interesting.

Probably, but not as the person you know from the Bible. Read Zealot by reza aslan https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812981480/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_mNGgybAWNHCWC

He looks at the person Jesus from a purely historical perspective.

Its not religious either it's more of an academic book.

Just curious, did you grow up in a religious household? Growing up in a Catholic household, I was constantly exposed to the religion but never asked questions. I went down this path of curiosity on Christianity a few years ago and read a few books and watched a few documentaries. The fact is, there is very little data on the historical Jesus, so you'll have to come to your own conclusions. A few things that helped me come to my conclusion:

An interesting free Yale open course that deals with the historical context of the New Testament -

http://oyc.yale.edu/religious-studies/rlst-152

An introduction to the "banned" books of the bible. One could suggest that these were influenced by other religions of the east, and did not fit the narrative of the current version of the Bible -

http://www.amazon.com/The-Gnostic-Gospels-Elaine-Pagels/dp/0679724532

One authors interpretation of what Jesus probably was given the historical context and the political strife of that time -

http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/0812981480/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449711190&sr=1-1&keywords=zealot

Good luck!

> Feel free to present some.

Again, fair point! There's a couple of books that are a good introduction to the topic.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062204602

http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/0812981480

These are meant for non-specialists, but they do a decent job of summarizing the last 30 years or so. If you're interested in a more in-depth study, both books contain a large number of excellent references.

http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/0812981480/

Not exactly a conspiracy nut