When you are told that the focus of a book is the "historical Jesus", it's easy to assume that the author is interested in substantiating Jesus as a historical personage so as to bolster the claims of religious Christianity.
Reza Aslan did a masterful job of presenting the historical context for the rise of Islam, (No god but God is a widely translated bestseller and an acknowledged contribution to historiography.) He is a scholar of religions and an excellent writer who can take a sprawling topic and render it sensibly and persuasively.
His argument boils down to this: The Jews of the first century had been consumed by the passion of holy war, of jihad, against Roman occupation, and Jesus was only amongst the last in a long line of messiahs, healers, rebel leaders, and self-proclaimed "King[s] of the Jews" who were executed. (He never uses the phrase "holy war" or jihad, of course, but the parallels are astonishing and unmistakable.) Jesus as a figure doesn't even appear much in the first third of the book, because Aslan is busy constructing a truly impressive context for Jewish rebellion under the harsh rule of Rome, and for Jewish aristocratic and theological co-option by the Romans to the point of collaboration.
Fascinating, provocative and meticulously researched biography that challenges long-held assumptions about the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth. First paperback edition of the controversial number one New York Times Bestseller by Reza Aslan. The hardback edition has sold over 250,000 copies in the US to date.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Contents: Map: First-Century Palestine xiii The Temple in Jerusalem xv Author's Note xvii Introduction xxiii Chronology xxxiii
Part I Prologue: A Different Sort of Sacrifice 3 Chapter One: A Hole in the Corner 10 Chapter Two: King of the Jews 17 Chapter Three: You Know Where I Am From 25 Chapter Four: The Fourth Philosophy 34 Chapter Five: Where Is Your Fleet to Sweep the Roman Seas? 46 Chapter Six: Year One 57
Part II Prologue: Zeal for Your House 73 Chapter Seven: The Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness 80 Chapter Eight: Follow Me 90 Chapter Nine: By the Finger of God 103 Chapter Ten: May Your Kingdom Come 115 Chapter Eleven: Who Do You Say I Am? 127 Chapter Twelve: No King but Caesar 146
Part III Prologue: God Made Flesh 163 Chapter Thirteen: If Christ Has Not Been Risen 172 Chapter Fourteen: Am I Not an Apostle? 183 Chapter Fifteen: The Just One 197 Epilogue: True God from True God 213 Acknowledgments 217 Notes 219 Bibliography 273 Index 283
