In the 5,000-year history of Jewish thought, the notion of a God-man is completely anathema to everything Judaism stands for. 'If you're asking if whether Jesus expected to be seen as God made flesh, as the living embodiment, the incarnation of God, then the answer to that is absolutely no. 'So for the Christians, they had a very obvious choice here: They could maintain their connections to their Jewish parent religion and experience the same wrath of Rome that the Jews were experiencing - of course the Christians' experience of the wrath of Rome would come a little bit later - or they could refashion the story of Jesus make him, frankly, less Jewish - make responsibility for his death on the shoulders of the Jews, and not on the Roman Empire.' The result is his new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth - a historical look at Jesus in the context of his time and Jewish religion, and against the backdrop of the Roman Empire.Īuthor Interviews 'Zealot' Tells The Story Of Jesus The Man, Not The Messiah I began to really reject the concept of Christ.'īut Aslan continued his Christian scholarship, and he found that he was increasingly interested in Jesus as a historical figure. He came to the realization that Jesus of Nazareth was quite different from the Messiah he'd been introduced to at church. 'My parents were certainly surprised,' Aslan tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.Īs Aslan got older, he began his studies in the history of Christianity, and he started to lose faith. from Iran, and Aslan's conversion was, in a sense, an adolescent's attempt to fit into American life and culture. His secular Muslim family had fled to the U.S. Writer and scholar Reza Aslan was 15 years old when he found Jesus. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Zealot Subtitle The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Author Reza Aslan

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