Table of Contents

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

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 was cited by Blackwell’s as one of the 100 most important books of the decade. He is also the author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (The Westbourne Press), How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization and the End of the War on Terror and God: A Human History, as well as the editor of Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East. Born in Iran, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

‘Revealing and always finely written’
*The Telegraph*

'A riveting biography’
*The New Yorker*

‘A lucid, intelligent page-turner’
*Los Angeles Times*

'Zealot, a book on the life of Jesus written by a man not only with scholarly credentials but who had for a period of time converted to Christianity before reverting back to Islam, was fascinating.'
*The Guardian*

‘If little is certain about Jesus’s life, rather more is known about his times, which Aslan evokes with commendable diligence. Zealot becomes, in part, a handy primer of first-century Middle Eastern history. … Aslan clearly admires Jesus, and, at the risk of inflaming the wrath of Fox News, his freedom from any obligation to buy the son-of-God stuff permits fresh and refreshing contemplation … At its core, Zealot is a gentle dispute with the modern notion of Jesus, whom we are generally encouraged to perceive as a forgiving and boundlessly tolerant sort.’
*New Humanist*

‘A special and revealing work, one that believer and skeptic alike will find surprising, engaging and original.’
*Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power*

‘Compulsively readable … this superb work is highly recommended’
*Publishers Weekly*

‘A vivid, persuasive portrait of the world and societies in which Jesus lived and the role he most likely played in both’
*Salon*

‘A book of outstanding research and a gripping read. Page after page of excellent prose offer insight into what it was like to be living under Roman oppression and why there was a multitude of messiahs offering hope and freedom.’
*The Middle East in Europe*