'Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth'. A book by Reza Aslan.
Friedrich Engels, the longtime friend and confederate of Karl Marx, once noted how the ideas of communism and early Christianity were pretty similar.
At first mainly slaves and poor peasants became Christians. "Like socialism" writes Sylvia M. Hale, "Christianity promised forthcoming salvation from bondage and misery." .Of course, Christianity said all of this would happen in the afterlife and not on earth. Socialism differed on this point and at one time promised freedom in the here and now.
Now Reza Aslan, an Iranian-born author has brought back to life the supposedly real Jesus. And Aslan's Jesus is a revolutionary. In the historic Israel of 2,000 years ago there were dozens of revolutionary Jews. They sought to overthrow the Roman rulers and kick out the wealthy Jews who supported Rome. Aslan does a good job here of showing what Roman-ruled Israel was like. It certainly was no paradise.
Jesus, according to Aslan was a revolutionary. So was John the Baptist who, says Aslan, was Jesus's mentor. And as Aslan points out these two men weren't the only hell raisers around. All these people rallied poor Jews to their side. Yet in the end all these Jews were crushed. From 66 to 70 C.E. the Roman legions wiped out the revolutionary Jews and scattered them to the four corners of the world.
"In this imaginary Kingdom of God," Aslan says about the hopes of the revolutionary Jews, "wealth will be distributed and debts will be cancelled."" The rich will be made poor and the powerful will be become powerless.
Aslan's Jesus doesn't believe in non-violence either. He urged the Jews to use violence if necessary.
But though I like this version of Jesus, is it the true one? Some reviewers and biblical scholars, who are far more knowledgeable on biblical matters than me, have doubted Aslan's story. One other reviewer points out that Aslan's use of the Gospels is inconsistent. On some points he uses the Gospels. At other times he trashes them.
So if you want a revolutionary version of Jesus, a sort of Hugo Chavez of 2,000 years ago, pick up and read Aslan's book. Yet if you favour a more conventional type of Jesus, stay away from 'Zealot'. I liked the book but it may be untrue.
