Zealot (Aslan) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
A real strength of the book is that it provides an introduction to first-century Palestine, including economics, politics and religion. Mr. Aslan uses previous scholarship to describe the precarious existence of Jewish peasants and the lower classes, and how the Romans and the Jewish upper class exploited the land and the people…Zealot shares some of the best traits of popular writing on scholarly subjects: it moves at a good pace; it explains complicated issues as simply as possible; it even provides notes for checking its claims…[Aslan] is a good writer. Zealot is…an entertaining read. It is also a serious presentation of one plausible portrait of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Dale B. Martin - New York Times Book Review

[A] compelling argument for a fresh look at the Nazarene, focusing on how Jesus the man evolved into Jesus the Christ.... Carefully comparing extra-biblical historical records with the New Testament accounts, Aslan develops a convincing and coherent story of how the Christian church, and in particular Paul, reshaped Christianity’s essence, obscuring the very real man who was Jesus of Nazareth. Compulsively readable and written at a popular level, this superb work is highly recommended.
Publishers Weekly


Aslan brings a fine popular style, shorn of all jargon, to bear on the presentation of Jesus of Nazareth.... He isn’t interested in attacking religion or even the church, much less in comparing Christianity unfavorably to another religion. He would have us admire Jesus as one of the many would-be messiahs who sprang up during Rome’s occupation of Palestine.... You don’t have to lose your religion to learn much that’s vitally germane to its history from Aslan’s absorbing, reader-friendly book
Booklist


A well-researched, readable biography of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth is not the same as Jesus Christ. The Gospels are not historical documents, nor even eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life..., and they certainly weren't written by the men whose names are attached to them. In fact, every word written about Jesus was written by people who never knew him in life.... Why has Christianity taken hold and flourished? This book will give you the answers in the simplest, most straightforward, comprehensible manner.
Kirkus Reviews