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

We found 53 Reddit comments about ZEALOT: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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ZEALOT: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Good Housekeeping Booklist Publishers Weekly Bookish
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53 Reddit comments about ZEALOT: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth:

u/Under_the_Volcano · 18 pointsr/badhistory

I was interested enough to pull-up the book on Amazon. Holy shit, are there a lot of terrible, xenophobic, ill-informed 1-star reviews.

A handful of the crazy:

>Let's get one thing clear right off the bat. First-century Palestinian Jews underwent rather serious training and were anything but illiterate. Their literacy in fact far surpassed that of the average American high school student of the 21st century.

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>Ask yourself, who was most threatened by the popularity of Jesus : Pontius Pilate or Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin? Follow the money. Where did the thirty pieces of silver given to Judas come from? Caiaphas

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>At the Great Judgement of God, we shall find out one day how the Lord & Savior & Creator Jesus Christ rates this book. I will not be surprised if we learn that Satan (the great deceiver, the Devil) has written this book of lies himself.

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>This book is a book of lies written with intent to undermine and to foster the Islamic claim that Jesus was just another man, and there is no god but Allat, the moon god.

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>This guy should go back to sand land and let us enjoy looking at girls in bikinis. I borrowed the book and threw up all over it half way through.

u/BEER_ME_THAT_BAGEL · 17 pointsr/AskHistorians

The book 'Zealot' by Reza Aslan has a chunk of it devoted to the decades before and after his life including several other people who gathered followers and claimed to be the "Messiah"

u/BugeyeContinuum · 11 pointsr/cringe

Looked for it on Amazon and it has 93 1-star reviews. There are very few 2/3/4 star reviews and that makes it really obvious. Ugh :\

u/seagoonie · 11 pointsr/spirituality

Here's a list of books I've read that have had a big impact on my journey.

First and foremost tho, you should learn to meditate. That's the most instrumental part of any spiritual path.

 Ram Dass – “Be Here Now” - https://www.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram-Dass/dp/0517543052 - Possibly the most important book in the list – was the biggest impact in my life.  Fuses Western and Eastern religions/ideas. Kinda whacky to read, but definitely #1

Ram Dass - “Journey Of Awakening” - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006L7R2EI - Another Ram Dass book - once I got more into Transcendental Meditation and wanted to learn other ways/types of meditation, this helped out.

 Clifford Pickover – “Sex, Drugs, Einstein & Elves…” - https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Drugs-Einstein-Elves-Transcendence/dp/1890572179/ - Somewhat random, frantic book – explores lots of ideas – planted a lot of seeds in my head that I followed up on in most of the books below

 Daniel Pinchbeck – “Breaking Open the Head” - https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Open-Head-Psychedelic-Contemporary/dp/0767907434 - First book I read to explore impact of psychedelics on our brains

 Jeremy Narby – “Cosmic Serpent” - https://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Serpent-DNA-Origins-Knowledge/dp/0874779642/ - Got into this book from the above, explores Ayahuasca deeper and relevancy of serpent symbolism in our society and DNA

 Robert Forte – “Entheogens and the Future of Religion” - https://www.amazon.com/Entheogens-Future-Religion-Robert-Forte/dp/1594774382 - Collection of essays and speeches from scientists, religious leaders, etc., about the use of psychedelics (referred to as Entheogens) as the catalyst for religion/spirituality

 Clark Strand – “Waking up to the Dark” - https://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Dark-Ancient-Sleepless/dp/0812997727 - Explores human’s addiction to artificial light, also gets into femininity of religion as balance to masculine ideas in our society

 Lee Bolman – “Leading with Soul” - https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Soul-Uncommon-Journey-Spirit/dp/0470619007 - Discusses using spirituality to foster a better, more supportive and creative workplace – pivotal in my honesty/openness approach when chatting about life with coworkers

 Eben Alexander – “Proof of Heaven” - https://www.amazon.com/Proof-Heaven-Neurosurgeons-Journey-Afterlife/dp/1451695195 - A neurophysicist discusses his near death experience and his transformation from non-believer to believer (title is a little click-baity, but very insightful book.  His descriptions of his experience align very similarly to deep meditations I’ve had)

 Indries Shah – “Thinkers of the East” - https://www.amazon.com/Thinkers-East-Idries-Shah/dp/178479063X/ - A collection of parables and stories from Islamic scholars.  Got turned onto Islamic writings after my trip through Pakistan, this book is great for structure around our whole spiritual “journey”

 Whitley Strieber – “The Key: A True Encounter” - https://www.amazon.com/Key-True-Encounter-Whitley-Strieber/dp/1585428698 - A man’s recollection of a conversation with a spiritual creature visiting him in a hotel room.  Sort of out there, easy to dismiss, but the topics are pretty solid

 Mary Scott – “Kundalini in the Physical World” - https://www.amazon.com/Kundalini-Physical-World-Mary-Scott/dp/0710094175/ - Very dense, very difficult scientific book exploring Hinduism and metaphysics (wouldn’t recommend this for light reading, definitely something you’d want to save for later in your “journey”)

 Hermann Hesse – “Siddartha” - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/siddhartha-hermann-hesse/1116718450? – Short novel about a spiritual journey, coming of age type book.  Beautifully written, very enjoyable.

Reza Aslan - “Zealot” - https://www.amazon.com/ZEALOT-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X - Talks about the historical Jesus - helped me reconnect with Christianity in a way I didn’t have before

Reza Aslan - “No god but God” - https://www.amazon.com/god-but-God-Updated-Evolution/dp/0812982444 - Same as above, but in terms of Mohammad and Islam.  I’m starting to try to integrate the “truths” of our religions to try and form my own understanding

Thich Nhat Hanh - “Silence” - https://www.amazon.com/Silence-Power-Quiet-World-Noise-ebook/dp/B00MEIMCVG - Hanh’s a Vietnamese Buddhist monk - in this book he writes a lot about finding the beauty in silence, turning off the voice in our heads and lives, and living in peace.

Paulo Coelho - “The Alchemist” - https://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0062315005/ - Sort of a modern day exploration of “the path” similar to “Siddhartha.”  Very easy and a joy to read, good concepts of what it means to be on a “path”

Carlos Castaneda - "The Teachings of Don Juan" - The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671600419 - Started exploring more into shamanism and indigenous spiritual work; this book was a great intro and written in an entertaining and accessible way. 

Jean-Yves Leloup - “The Gospel of Mary” - https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Mary-Magdalene-Jean-Yves-Leloup/dp/0892819111/ - The book that finally opened my eyes to the potentiality of the teachings of Christ.  This book, combined with the one below, have been truly transformative in my belief system and accepting humanity and the power of love beyond what I’ve found so far in my journey.

Jean-Yves Leloup - “The Gospel of Philip” - https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Philip-Magdalene-Gnosis-Sacred/dp/1594770220 - Really begins to dissect and dive into the metaphysical teachings of Christ, exploring the concept of marriage, human union and sexuality, and the power contained within.  This book, combined with the one above, have radically changed my perception of The Church as dissimilar and antithetical to what Christ actually taught.

Ram Dass - “Be Love Now” - https://www.amazon.com/Be-Love-Now-Path-Heart/dp/0061961388 - A follow-up to “Be Here Now” - gets more into the esoteric side of things, his relationship with his Guru, enlightenment, enlightened beings, etc.

Riane Eisler - “The Chalice and the Blade” - https://www.amazon.com/Chalice-Blade-Our-History-Future/dp/0062502891 - An anthropoligical book analyzing the dominative vs cooperative models in the history and pre-history of society and how our roots have been co-opted and rewritten by the dominative model to entrap society into accepting a false truth of violence and dominance as “the way it is”

u/IWannaFuckEllenPage · 9 pointsr/rage

Here's the rest of the reviews if you want to rage some more: http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/product-reviews/140006922X/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

Keep in mind that there are more 1-star reviews than 5-star reviews, despite the fact that a lot of the 5-star reviews are under Amazon Verified Purchase (which means they've actually bought and read the book, while the same seems to be absent with the 1-star reviews. I wonder why?

And sorry for the massive amounts of jpeg, but it's a 1400x5750 image.

u/[deleted] · 9 pointsr/IAmA

Unfortunately, the people who I guess sided with fox or whatever really screwed with the ratings of his book on amazon at first. Pretty much all the one star reviews....that didn't even read the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

u/The_Real_Johnny_Utah · 9 pointsr/atheism

Want to have an educated opinion on this matter?

Read Zealot, a fine example of the differences of Jesus of Nazareth, a freedom fighting rebel of sorts, fighting against the tyranny of Rome - to the Jesus Christ figure of Religious folk lore.

Truly a good read in all honesty.

u/kerowack · 8 pointsr/atheism
u/gustieboarder · 3 pointsr/TrueAtheism

This book might be worth a read, saw it from a post in /r/atheism yesterday.

"Zealot" by Reza Aslan takes a historical look at Jesus. The author is a Muslim professor (used to be a Christian), who has been researching the historical life of Jesus for some twenty years.

Zealot on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375111277&sr=1-1&keywords=zealot

Link to article with video of Reza in an interview with Fox News
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/27/reza-aslan-fox-zealot_n_3665211.html

Link to original post from /r/atheism
http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/1j86c6/fox_news_get_owned_for_once_again_resorting_to_ad/

u/Sengura · 3 pointsr/cringepics

Funny thing is, Jesus was never in school. He, like most Jews living in what is now Palestine, was an uneducated illiterate.

Source

u/TextofReason · 3 pointsr/news


Not necessary. The book's Amazon rating is testament to the effectiveness of the segment!

Get your copy here!

http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

u/Flocculencio · 3 pointsr/AskHistorians

Reza Aslan's Zealot gives a good overview of this, or for a (much) longer read Diarmaid McCullogh's Christianity. The short answer is that the difference between the proto-Christians and the other followers of Messianic Jewish preachers was that the Christians had Paul who reworked the message to be inclusive of Gentiles. This changed Christianity from just another wild Jewish fringe sect to a contender for the hearts and minds of people who perhaps were not quite fulfilled by the existing social structure (for example, women- it's quite notable just how many women actually are referred to in Acts of the Apostles cited as prominent members of the early church, considering that this was a society in which women were almost totally sidelined from the mainstream)

u/musicman99 · 3 pointsr/exmormon

This scholar argues Jesus was a purely mythical character (like Zeus or Osiris) who was later placed in a historical context decades after the fact: https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/5656

On the other hand, this other scholar argues for the historicity of Jesus (that he actually was a person), and postulates what the real Jesus actually taught (VERY different from the modern Christian message!) http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

Scholarship right now seems to be split between these two camps.

u/bearparts · 3 pointsr/exmormon

Jesus Christ didn't exist. However he is based on an historical character or is a composite of several individuals living approximately at that time in similar geographic locations. He certainly wouldn't have been known as Jesus Christ, and many of the acts described in the bible didn't actually happen. You can think of it in similar terms as story about a guy named Dave, that is based on the story of a guy name Steve. Steve, the historical character lived in Salt Lake City and so did the mythical Dave. Both of them were described as being Rabbi's who were born in the same decade.

If you want to understand what mainstream historians believe about the historical Jesus of Nazareth I recommend this book. http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

Edit: Essentially Jesus Christ is an idea personified in human form.

u/Odontodactyllus · 3 pointsr/TrueAtheism

The author makes a real attempt to portray Jesus as he would have been historically. Worth reading!

http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

u/LAKingsDave · 3 pointsr/hockey

I'm reading Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

It's not a religious book, even though it would appear to be. It's a historic look at Jesus' life, written by an Islamic dude.

It's been pretty good. But I wouldn't say it's great just because it seem like the author has to come to a lot of conclusions based on lack of evidence from Jesus' time. Interesting for sure though.

u/matttk · 3 pointsr/europe

Part of it is an obsession with nationalism. How do you say you're different than a Serb? Oh yeah, you're Catholic. It's sad though that people continue to brainwash their children instead of giving them a free choice to decide what they want to believe.

Does anyone really think the average person would believe in Jesus if they only found out about him in their adult life? The story is ridiculous and almost everything in those books is provably false. (yes, there was an historical Jesus)

u/TheGreenLanyard · 2 pointsr/JusticePorn

Through the "read other people's comments" approach, it's easy to criticize someone by exclusively choosing comments that criticize them.

It's quite possible for Fox to choose only comments that were biased towards one side and never focus on any specific claims made in the content of the book.

You can find a variety of comments just by looking at Amazon book reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/product-reviews/140006922X

That one would look at the wide variety of comments available on the Internet and choose comments that attack credibility through ad hominem (Aslan is Muslim, therefore his book is biased) and appeal to authority (another scholar disagrees, therefore Aslan is wrong), instead of focusing on the content of the book (e.g. why couldn't the disagreeing scholar's comment include what example claim (s)he disagrees with and why (s)he disagrees?)...they just don't make for a balanced interview.

u/NGeX · 2 pointsr/funny

I actually went out and bought the book just because of this interview.

Also...read the reviews for Zealot on Amazon. The people who gave it one star are disgusting and clearly haven't read it. Amazon needs to do what Hotel.com does. You should have to buy the item from Amazon in order to review it.

u/W0rdN3rd · 2 pointsr/books

Just started Reza Aslan's _Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.

At page 95/216 (not counting end notes/bibliography, etc.), he's established his own credentials, set the stage with a bit of history and has begun exploring what the historical Jesus' life might have been like.

My only complaint is from an editing point of view: I'm not a fan of end notes. If something needs a bit more explanation, throw in a footnote or a parenthetical note, but don't make me keep switching back and forth. It's distracting. I've tried reading all the chapter notes after reading the chapter, before reading the chapter and while reading the chapter--it's just too distracting.

u/danielxcubed · 2 pointsr/atheism

For those who may want to read the book.

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
http://www.amazon.com/dp/140006922X/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

u/-to- · 2 pointsr/atheism

On the subject of Yeshua of Nazareth I would like to refer everyone to Reza Aslan's Zealot.

In a nutshell: Jesus existed; however he was a very minor character, a Jewish nationalist who wanted to start an armed rebellion against Rome. His rebellion was nipped in the bud as he was gathering followers. In the aftermath to his crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, what remained of his followers gained momentum in the establishment of a reform movement among Greek-speaking Jews, then other Roman citizens. Christianism then acquired a life of its own, each generation adding to the new scriptures elements that the original first-century Palestine Jews would have found utterly alien, until it was made into a State religion.

About the link: Is it me, or do the videos have a slightly cultish tinge to them ?

u/thewhaleshark · 2 pointsr/Norse

The modernization argument is silly. Names morph constantly throughout the historical record. Are you going to say that Egil never existed because it's sometimes spelled "Egill?"

We can trace the modernization of a name back to its historical roots. That's not an issue.

Zealot provides a pretty interesting take on it, but that's just the most recent attempt at proving the historical Jesus. The broad consensus of Biblical scholars is that Jesus of Nazareth definitely existed, and that the role of Messiah was ascribed to him after his death.

The fact that the religion turned him into some mythical hero after his death is irrelevant to his actual existence. Now, was he the son of God, healing the sick and performing miracles and the pre-ordained Messiah sent to save the world? I doubt it, and there is no evidence to support that.

u/joenathanSD · 2 pointsr/atheism

My brother, your first two questions seem rhetorical. No I haven't spoken to him. My interest in Jesus is not based on the Biblical description of him. I've read many books about him written about him including Zealot. Have you read this one? It's solid.

u/sixthfore · 2 pointsr/AdviceAnimals

According to the first chapter of Zealot, Jesus most likely actually didn't preach universal love and peace.

It's been a while, but something about Jesus being spun from a particularly successful religious rabble rousing celebrity (these were supposedly rather common in that time) to be a loving peaceful chap due to Roman politics and pressures / tendency to violently suppress threats to their rule.

Just my impression from one particular source of potential knowledge.

u/emmas_revenge · 2 pointsr/exmormon
u/vineyardmike · 2 pointsr/exmormon

You can believe in Christ without being lds. fact over 90 percent of the people thar believe in christ are not lds.

Find some good books and explore on your own.

I really liked zealot by Reza Aslan. It's one of the few out there that is historically accurate and tries to look at the person and not the religions that formed around his legacy.

ZEALOT: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth https://www.amazon.com/dp/140006922X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_MNN1BbFYXFX6M

u/FatesPeak · 2 pointsr/DebateReligion

One of my major sources on the historicity of Jesus is: https://www.amazon.com/ZEALOT-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

It really is worth reading

u/videopower · 1 pointr/videos

It looks like Fox News got some results that they wanted.

u/J_U_D_G_E · 1 pointr/videos

Anyone worth their mettle in religion understands the Bible has been largely exaggerated, and people who take the bible absolutely LITERALLY are the Fake-Catholics/Christians I am talking about.

We know the Bible was pretty much curated during the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D - where due to the impending collapse of the roman empire, Italy HAD TO be converted into Catholicism, or face absolute fucking Anarchy.

So any/all accounts of God/Jesus were erased, and now we have the Divine, hence why from 12-25 years of Jesus's life are missing, and when/why all religious holidays are decided, how to pray, etc.

Also, the Church was incredibly corrupt back in the day, controlling most of the World's currency, and Fate of entire countries.

The Modern Catholic, very much differs with the whole "concept" of religion most people seem to think - when I tell them "I'm religous", we pray and do everything else, but the modern church has changed drastically, to the point that we do believe in Aliens, Accept gays into church, and Pope Francis literally appoints special council hunting pedophiles - we believe in science too, Great Men of science like Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo (who literally defied the church), Georges Lemaitre (who worked with Einstein on his relativity equation - was a priest), and Many NASA Austronauts are devout catholics.

None of them, however, claimed that - literally - God spoke to them (as these bozos claim - like a full convo), No - when "God speaks to you" literaly means you were inspired by God from someone, through something - painters call this a "Muse" in Faith, we say "God Spoke" or "God has Spoken" - as in it's God's will.

When speaking about religion, try not to look at it from the literal point of view, when God speaks, he speaks through someone, your mom, dad, whoever - you hear the right thing, and you act.

Again, when someone literally says "God Spoke to me" and they had a "Conversation about what to do" - that's when the greatest crimes in history have been commited, not because he actually TOLD YOU and you REPLIED, but because you wanted to say he Spoke to you and YOU ONLY, and people will always have an Agenda, when speaking like that, hence their plane BS.

To your last point, we do have actual historical evidence as to when Catholicism came about - Reza Azlan, has a PH.D in religion and has actually written about this - https://www.amazon.com/ZEALOT-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

Regardless of your beliefs, Jesus did indeed exist, and was a very prominent figure well known for prominent figure performing actual Miracles, like healing Lepers, and resurecting Lazarus (historical evidence of this is true) , and he founded his own Church through one of his Disciples - Peter (who became the first Pope Ever) around 30 AD - this is a historical fact.

We know too - Jesus was so prominent, he shows in other religious sacred texts, like Jewish, and the Quran, which his name is mentioned more times than Mohammed.

u/Jack_Of_All_Meds · 1 pointr/IAmA

Has anyone read the one star reviews on Amazon for this book? They're hilarious, if you want a good laugh go check it out.

u/bullmoose_atx · 1 pointr/television

Aslan knew he was going to face an attack on his credibility rather than an attack on the points he actually made in the book. He was able to turn the tables and made the anchor look like the one with an agenda. Well done.

Edit: here is the link to his book Zealot: Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth on Amazon if you want to read it.

u/nobetteridea · 1 pointr/atheism

You and everyone who responded to you should read Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. I'm not all the way through it, but I think it does a great job explaining the politics of the time, how the writers of the gospels approached 'history' (spoiler alert, they fabricated it to define Jesus as a messiah), who the gospels intended audience was, and much more.

The author, Reza Aslan, seems to believe there was a real person, who was caught and crucified by the Romans, and uses evidence like that (as it was a specific punishment for a specific crime) to piece together who he was. Good read.

u/cheesaye · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Reza Aslan has a controversial new book out called Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. Aslan did an ama not too long ago as well. But I heard him give an interview on Fresh Air (NPR) that you might find interesting.

He describes Jesus as a man, a great man, but his story has been greatly changed over time. Listen to the Fresh Air piece.

u/jester236 · 1 pointr/atheism

While I certainly agree with the sentiment of your comment a few of the details are a bit off. For instance there was a Census however Roman Law would not have required people to return to the town of their birth to take part in it. This would have taken an incredible amount of time in those days, this modification was made by the writers of the Bible to provide a reason for Jesus being born in Bethleham rather than Nazareth.

I think you'd find this book fascinating: http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377967874&sr=8-1&keywords=reza+aslan

And seriously, don't get me wrong, not attacking you at all but I do think you'd enjoy the read.

u/TheBlower · 1 pointr/Sikh

Cheers, thanks!

Yeah I agree 100%. There was a period of like 5 or so years where I was a full blown atheist. I don't think there is anything wrong with that perspective, but I definitely like having a very personal relationship with God, like I do now. I don't buy the whole "CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE AND MASTER PLANNER OF ALL THINGS" idea of God. The God I put credence in is more like a paternal figure that intervenes and gives you strength when you need it. Nothing more.

If you want a really good source on Jesus the man, and not Jesus Christ, then read this: http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375671861&sr=8-1&keywords=zealot

u/dinozauru_fertil · 1 pointr/Romania
u/_____FRESH_____ · 1 pointr/Showerthoughts

That may be the case, but you have to remember the people who "witnessed" these events first hand didn't write it down. It was verbally told from person to person. I think when you break down the day in question it's not really as special as everyone wants it to be. The entire scene in the bible where Pilot reluctantly kill Jesus over the thief Barabbas never happened. In fact Pilot killed so many jews that there are letters to Rome complaining about his rampant killings. He wouldn't have bat an eye at killing yet another jew trying to push sedition on everyone. The bible is a great book of interesting stories that like any other story told and retold has been greatly embellished and tweaked to fit the narrative of the time. It's believed the story of Pilot asking the Jews who he should kill was added because those stories were sent to Rome and were meant for the Greek romans of the time. They softened the message so Rome wouldn't come off as complete dicks.

If you haven't read it I highly recommend Zealot by Reza Aslan (http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X) or Jesus Interrupted by Bart D. Ehrman (http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Interrupted-Revealing-Hidden-Contradictions/dp/0061173940)

Both books are great and the audio books are read by the authors.

I pulled most of my points from these books and they say it much, much better than I ever could. They both do their own translations of the original Greek texts and have help with the Aramaic translations.

u/American-Negro · 1 pointr/islam

Former Christian with MA in theological studies and M.Div. I love Jesus and he is my favorite prophet of divine revelation.

Yes, there are Muslim interpretations in which Jesus has died, the most notable is here. This is not necessarily a religious book, but it is written by a Sufi Muslim who admits that Islam has traditionally got the death of Jesus wrong.

As a historic event, Jesus was crucified on Skull Rock for treason against Rome. I do know this happened, and it has nothing to do with my belief in Islam. I cannot deny this historic fact because it's the same as denying Martin Luther King was shot or Hannibal rode elephants. It's just fact to me.

Dr. Shabir Ally does a good job explaining why the idea that Jesus being substitution on the cross by someone who looks like Jesus is not really a good interpretation for that specific verse, and not necessarily suggested by the Koran here

This came up once in a thread, and there were Muslims who stated that they believed Jesus did get crucified, but survived it. It was actually an interesting discussion but the fundie brigade was downvoting like crazy.

u/Zeitfresser · 1 pointr/worldnews

The new testament is written in a way that allows for many interpretations. You would like the book Zealot a lot I think.

u/jettnoir · 1 pointr/conspiracy

[Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth] (http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X) by Reza Aslan. The whole back is full of non-religious text citations.

u/lazyliberal · 1 pointr/atheism

There is a difference between thinking and knowing.

As an atheist, I like to base my thinking on facts and until this article, it was my understanding that Jesus did exist, recently I read: Zealot which talks about Jesus.

I feel it is important as an atheist to know the most you can about the faith you turned away from (roman catholic for me).

It is also the best path to realizing that the faith you were raise to believe is bull.

u/Homiros · 1 pointr/atheism

Reza Aslan's Zealot ( http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X ) is a fairly good take on it. I have always thought that there is a kernel of truth in the depiction of Jesus because some of the things he supposedly said have caused so much angst to the Christian church, beginning with Paul who is the real creator of the "Christian" religion. Let's face it, there is a real tension between the basic tenets of his teachings (as set out in the sermon on the mount) and the practices of the church from early on. One of the best examples of this tension is the attack on the so-called liberation theology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theology) as practiced by Catholic priests in Latin America by the then Cardinal Ratzinger. All this suggests to me that there was a real person whose (non-magical) message was perverted by Paul and the later church.

u/PM_ME_WEED_AND_PUSSY · 1 pointr/facepalm

Yeah, the Jesus of real life was probably a pretty cool dude. The made up god-thing Jesus that people worship fucking sucks (see also: ZEALOT (book) by Reza Aslan)

u/princeofponies · 1 pointr/worldnews

Here's an exhaustively researched book that draws from primary sources which proves conclusively that you are wrong. It's a great read -
https://www.amazon.com/ZEALOT-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

u/zaku49 · 0 pointsr/videos

The battle has now moved to AMAZON!

http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Look at the anger y reviewers lol.

u/cbbuntz · 0 pointsr/skeptic

I haven't seen proper statistics, but given that the vast majority of Biblical scholars are Christian, it's not surprising that the consensus is that Jesus did indeed exist. Their religion and perhaps their jobs depend on it.

Reza Aslan, a muslim, wrote Zealot, which I haven't read, but the title gives you an idea of where the book goes. He's the one who did the infamous Fox News interview.

I'm suspicious that even the scholarly world is not immune to confirmation bias. Whether Christian, Muslim or Atheist, they will all likely have a bias toward what fits their world view. It's hard to say who and who is not at fault for confirmation bias.

edit: found an interview with Aslan for a cliffs notes version of his point of view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL6E4eMX-4k

u/trthorson · -1 pointsr/AskHistorians

>I would like to respond, but I am not sure I follow your logic. I believe now you are referring to the dependability of primary sources, and how the individuals who created those sources employed speculation

I'm glad that's cleared up.

Yes, that's what I was referring to since my original comment. In my original response to you I believed you were responding to the top comment.

If we recognize that there's subjectivity within the sources, I would argue that it's inherently speculation when analyzing them. While not pure speculation, I don't believe it's accurate to say that there's firm evidence to support all analysis of the subjectivity within records. And analyzing the subjectivity is part of historical analysis, is it not?

edit: And I do recognize the importance of noting when and where the historian feels they have crossed the gray area from "firm" to "not quite firm" evidence. For example, in Zealot by Reza Aslan, while it's interpretation - I would argue it's all firm evidence, with little/no speculation. However, I do believe that part of historical analysis is speculation to an extent - and that's not entirely bad.

u/NorrisOBE · -1 pointsr/worldnews

>but the statement "religion does more harm than good" is a very simple statement that has a very straight-forward answer

But that's the thing: It's not supposed to be simple and straightforward.

>You are also assuming that the people who expose that view don't know anything about religion or its implications. Studies show that atheists are more knowledgeable about religion and about specific religions than theists are.

Um, No. The best book about Jesus Christ is from a Muslim

u/Dr_Strangz_Gooz · -2 pointsr/history

Reza Aslan talks about this in his book Zealot

https://www.amazon.com/ZEALOT-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

I know some people do not think highly of his work but he points out that there is only 1 written account of Jesus in Roman records and it isn't even about him but his brother and they refer to him as the brother of the one called Jesus. (Not the exact quote).

u/CalvinLawson · -25 pointsr/atheism

>But whenever one asks what precisely that evidence is, it all goes quiet.

Seriously? That's the funniest thing I've heard in a while, considering that a book on the historical Jesus literally just hit the New York Times bestsellers list. You can claim to be ignorant, that's fine; but it's no proof of anything.

Here's the NYT best seller:

http://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X

If you're offended that the author is a Muslim, then join the Fox News crowd. But if so, here's an excellent book on the topic written by an atheist:

http://www.amazon.com/Did-Jesus-Exist-Historical-Argument-ebook/dp/B0053K28TS

Seriously, this is mainstream shit.