Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Reza Aslan
Jul 2013 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Reza Aslan
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8 hr 8 min
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the acclaimed author of No god but God comes “a lucid, intelligent page-turner” (Los Angeles Times) that challenges long-held assumptions about Jesus.
“Riveting . . . [Reza] Aslan synthesizes Scripture and scholarship to create an original account.”—The New Yorker
Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the “Kingdom of God.” The revolutionary movement he launched was so threatening to the established order that he was executed as a state criminal. Within decades after his death, his followers would call him God.
Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history’s most enigmatic figures by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived. Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction. He explores the reasons the early Christian church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary. And he grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself, the mystery that is at the heart of all subsequent claims about his divinity.
Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told even as it affirms the radical and transformative nature of Jesus’ life and mission.
“Riveting . . . [Reza] Aslan synthesizes Scripture and scholarship to create an original account.”—The New Yorker
Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the “Kingdom of God.” The revolutionary movement he launched was so threatening to the established order that he was executed as a state criminal. Within decades after his death, his followers would call him God.
Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history’s most enigmatic figures by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived. Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction. He explores the reasons the early Christian church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary. And he grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself, the mystery that is at the heart of all subsequent claims about his divinity.
Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told even as it affirms the radical and transformative nature of Jesus’ life and mission.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the acclaimed author of No god but God comes “a lucid, intelligent page-turner” (Los Angeles Times) that challenges long-held assumptions about Jesus.
“Riveting . . . [Reza] Aslan synthesizes Scripture and scholarship to create an original account.”—The New Yo...
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Ratings and reviews
24 reviews
Ryan Krol
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July 17, 2021
Very informative and laid out well. Great read, glad I bought it.
JustFacts
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May 4, 2018
Awesome read
David Shapiro
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October 6, 2025
fascinating
About the author
Reza Aslan is an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions. His first book, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, has been translated into thirteen languages and named by Blackwell as one of the hundred most important books of the last decade. He is also the author of How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror (published in paperback as Beyond Fundamentalism), as well as the editor of Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East. Born in Iran, he lives in New York and Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.
Reza Aslan is an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions. His first book, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, has been translated into thirteen languages and named by Blackwell as one of the hundred most important books of the last decade. He is also the...
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