The first thing that all potential readers must know is this is a book about the historical Jesus, not Jesus Christ. If you are a fundamentalist Christian, there are many theories this author puts out, that you will find disturbing. If you want to be challenged on who the historical Jesus is, I highly recommend this book. If you believe the bible is the literal word of God, then I suggest you don't read this book.
To tell his story, the author not only uses the gospels, but also other historical documents. He also gives an excellent historical lesson on being a Jew at this time period. He talks about how the Jewish religion was practiced back then, and how the priests and Pharisees acted back then. He talks about how it was to be under Roman occupation, and how the Roman empire put down many different Jewish uprising before and after Jesus. I found this part of the book fascinating.
Just an FYI, I was born a Catholic and went through 12 years of Catholic school. Thus I know my bible pretty well. While I still believe Jesus is God, I am very disillusioned with established religion. Many aspects of Jesus's life I was taught in Catholic school are brought into question by Mr. Aslan. For example, where Jesus was born, and who the father of Jesus was. The author does an excellent job of explaining his positions, and for the most part I agreed with him.
I had a major problem with this book right when he was talking about the crucifixion. He makes great arguments, but when his arguments do not fit into his narrative, he ignores his own arguments. He argues that Jesus was a Jewish Zealot. That he was completely against the Roman rule, and was disillusioned with the Pharisees and Scribes. That while the Pharisees and Scribes were not happy with Jesus's teaching, the only one that could crucify him was the Romans. That Pilate sent "thousands upon thousands to the cross with a simple scratch of his reed pen". That Jesus's crime was that he was a threat to the Roman peace, as his crime stated, he was the "king of the Jews". That crucifixion was not only used to kill someone in a very painful way, but "to serve as a deterrent to others who might defy the state". "Because the entire point of the crucifixion was to humiliate the victim and frighten the witnesses, the corpse would be left where it hung to be eaten by dogs and picked clean by the birds or prey." That Pilate did not care about Jewish opinion, that he will do what he wanted to do. All of these points I agree with the author.
But here is where the author ignores all of his facts. If Jesus had thousands of followers, and was crucified for being a threat the Roman rule, why was he not left on the cross? Wouldn't the Roman want to send a message to Jesus thousand of followers. If Jesus was left on the cross, and he was not buried, he could not have rose in three days. Mr. Aslan makes a strong argument that this what should have happened to Jesus, but he does not address why the Roman allowed Jesus to be buried.
The other issue I have with the book is when he was talking about Saint Stephen. The author points Saint Stephen did not know Jesus, and never met Jesus. He did not hear about Jesus until after his crucifixion. That Saint Stephen became a follower of Jesus, because his disciples was he rose from the dead. This makes no sense to me. If someone told me someone rose from the dead, I would think the person was crazy. And then to believe that a crucified person was the messiah. The Catholic Church and now Mr. Aslan have never gave me a good reason why people who never met Jesus would think he is the messiah.
On the whole is was a really good book. The author challenged many of my beliefs. But in the end, the author had to explain to me how a poor Jew, became a God to millions of people. Why would a gentile, become a Christian in the first century AD? The Jewish religion was a small religion at the time. Why would they believe this Zealot Jew was God, instead of the Roman Gods, who were so powerful, they helped conquer most of the known world? It makes no sense that the Christian religion grew to the size it is today, but it did. And at least for me, it is because Jesus is God.
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