Wisdom Quarterly; Mitch Jeserich ("Letters & Politics," Dec. 24, 2013, KPFA.org, Berkeley), Dr. Reza Aslan (rezaaslan.com, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth)
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| The Christ story (as opposed to accounts of the historical Jesus of Nazareth) borrows much from Buddhism. Christian scholar Reza Aslan explains the two Jesuses very well in Zealot. |
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| Zealot (amazon.com) |
Religious
scholar Dr. Reza Aslan discusses his fascinating, provocative, and
meticulously researched biography about the historical Jesus [Yah'shua or Joshua or Son-of-Zeus].
It
calls into question everything Westerners in Judeo-Christian societies thought we knew about Jesus of
Nazareth.
Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher (rabbi) and
miracle worker [siddha] walked across the Galilee, gathering followers [as an anti-imperial rebel like many modern Palestinians] to
establish what he called the “Kingdom of God.”
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| Good St. Issa as a bodhisattva |
Two decades after his shameful death, his followers would call him God.
Sifting
through centuries of mythmaking, Dr. Aslan sheds new light on one of
history’s most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus
through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived: first century
Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic fervor.
- Letters & Politics, 12/24/13, 10:00 am
- PLAY AUDIO NOW (in own media player)
- DOWNLOAD clip (MP3, 10.28 megabytes)
- Whistleblower journalist Glenn Greenwald excerpt at Minute 48:00
Scores of Jewish
prophets, preachers, and would-be messiahs [which always simply meant someone aiming to save Jews from Roman rule] traipsed through the Holy
Land, bearing messages from God.
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| Fairytale: white savior like Thor |
Balancing the
Jesus of the Gospels against the historical sources, Dr. Aslan explores this
diverse and turbulent age and, in doing so, challenges the conventional
portraits of Jesus of Nazareth. He describes a man full of
conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction:
- a man of peace who exhorted his followers to arm themselves with swords;
- an exorcist and faith healer who urged his disciples to keep his identity a secret;
- and ultimately, the seditious “King of the Jews” whose promise of liberation from Rome went unfulfilled in his brief lifetime.
Aslan explores the
reasons why the early Christian church preferred to promulgate an image
of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically
conscious revolutionary.
- [Biblical scholar Allegro points out that the Jesus cover-story came from an entheogen-using Jewish cult, possibly the Essenes, whose sacrament and "cross" was the magic mushroom. It provided them direct mystical experiences. The BBC documents that Jesus was a Buddhist monk. He returned from 18 lost years in India with long hair to continue his rebel and messianic activities to free the Jews.]
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| Vishnu, I'm going back to Palestine. - Good luck. |
And he grapples with the riddle of how Jesus
understood himself (as a Jew, a "messiah," a "god," and a man), the mystery that is at the heart of all subsequent
claims about his divinity.
Zealot questions what we
thought we knew about Jesus of Nazareth -- even as it affirms the radical
and transformative nature of his life and mission. The result is a
thought-provoking, elegantly written biography with the pulse of a
fast-paced novel: a singularly brilliant portrait of a man, a time, and
the birth of a religion.
“Riveting...Aslan synthesizes Scripture and scholarship to create an original account.”
—The New Yorker
“A lucid, intelligent page-turner.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Fascinatingly and convincingly drawn.”
—The Seattle Times
“[Aslan’s]
literary talent is as essential to the effect of Zealot as are his
scholarly and journalistic chops. . . . A vivid, persuasive portrait.”
—Salon
“This tough-minded, deeply political book does full justice to the real Jesus, and honors him in the process.”
“This tough-minded, deeply political book does full justice to the real Jesus, and honors him in the process.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
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