Zealot (Reza Aslan): Review

I had very high hopes when I purchased Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth the day after it came out.  It is well written and a fascinating read.  But as I read I got more and more uncomfortable with a number of Aslan's premises. 

He does not adequately deal with the "lost years," saying only that Jesus was a "woodworker" who probably worked, with his brothers, on building the city of Sepphoris, not far from Nazareth. 

And he insists, almost ad nauseum, on the illiteracy of Jesus and his disciples and the leaders of the early Jewish Christian movement. This seems central to his narrative.

Nor does he deal adequately with what might have changed Jesus from a laborer to a miracle worker and teacher.  The context he provides for the development of messianic movements is illuminating, but not adequate to account for such transformation.

I also disagree with his opinion that the prologue to the Gospel of John proves that the writer already pictures Jesus as the other-worldly, eternal, out of this world.  The rest of the Gospel of John is about an earthy, tactile, fully-human Jesus.  There is a necessary tension between the logos and the incarnation which is one of the central themes of Christian history.

I'm not saying this book isn't worth reading, it most certainly is.  And it got me to thinking.... (probably his purpose). The context Aslan elucidates for the historical Jesus calls into question quite a few of the understandings of Jesus on which centuries of Christians have based their lives.  I've become aware that each of the Gospels was written with an agenda other than "just the facts, please," (a desire rooted in the Enlightenment emphasis on empirical evidence). In the endnotes, Aslan provides some discussion of various scholarly opinions on his chapters, making it clear which position he takes. I see what he offers through this book as another of many perspectives on the historical Jesus. 

His narrative-making is not all that different from that of the Gospel writers and the many efforts throughout the millenia to "get a handle" on this Jesus.  The importance of this book, like so many of the narratives, is to offer a perspective that can add to how we think about Jesus.  The question which Bishop Spong asked as part of his musings on whether Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married (Born of a Woman) fits for me as I consider Zealot:  if it were true, how would it change the way we interpret Jesus? (His sexuality or his leadership.) This will be a question to live with for a while.  In the flurry of reactions and interviews (and non-interviews), this process will be interesting to observe and be part of.

In spite of the (failed, IMO) efforts of fundamentalist inerrantists over the past couple of centuries to arrive at certainty in the modern sense about the facts of the Bible, the primary insight I take from my first reading of Zealot is the recognition that no one, not the Gospel writers, not Paul, not the "church fathers," not the historical Jesus movement, not Aslan, can say "here is the definitive, once-and-for-all, explanation of Jesus."  All of the perspectives offer nuances and possibilities that may challenge or threaten or inspire...but "understanding Jesus" is an eternal process that requires (or should require) each of us to come, through critical thinking and through experience, to our own understanding of how the reality of Jesus shapes us. 

Hopefully we will find communities with and within which to undertake this exploration.  Hopefully (my hope) is that I will always grow and learn and live into the challenge of Jesus.  I think the day I stop being willing to change and grow "in the image of God" as part of my life task will be the day when the meaning which Jesus has for me begins to fade into a nice, comforting story, without much power to transform me or society, and the day on which  my hope for the realization of the Kingdom of God must die.

So, read the book, listen to or watch the interviews (Fresh Air, Huff Post Live, and others).  Join in the conversations.  Do your own thinking.  Let Aslan challenge you, but don't swallow his interpretation (or anyone else's) as the definitive word:  there is much more to Jesus than any one person or scholarly interpretation can define.  Enjoy the journey!