The Zealot: The Life of Jesus of Nazareth and the Birth of a Religion

Two thousand years ago, a wandering Jewish preacher and miracle worker gathered followers around him to establish the 'kingdom of God.' The revolutionary movement that arose was such a threat to the existing order that the man was arrested, tortured and executed as an enemy of the state. Shortly after his humiliating death, his followers would call him God. In The Zealot, Reza Aslan examines centuries of myth-making and sheds new light on one of the most influential figures in history. Contrasting the Jesus of the Gospels with the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, but also a bundle of contradictions. The result is a portrait of a man, a time and the birth of a religion that is as profound as it is elegant.