Very courageous and yet informative book by Reza Aslan on Jesus Christ who definitely is one of the very few iconic figures who shaped the modern life in today’s world. His perspective as he claims definitely from a historical perspective not from a religious perspective. If it is an absolutely portrayal of history or not that probably need to be a different topic of discussion. I can see that how this may not be welcomed by different religious group but it is remarkable to see a different point of view discussion that is not recurrent regarding Jesus.

As per Merriam-Webster dictionary, Zealot means, “a person who has very strong feelings about something (such as religion or politics) and who wants other people to have those feelings”.

If you were looking for religious answers, then is book is probably not the correct one but if you are a student of history, you will find this book very interesting. This is probably more of a book that raises new questions rather than responses to unanswered ones.

In any case, I think this a very courageous attempt from a Scholar who is Muslim. I have been reading his works or watching his TV interviews from his days in University of Iowa in early 2000s. I can see that he has evolved in last 10-12 years. He always was TV interview favorites by CNN or even some cases Fox. I can see that he definitely has refined his thought process and have become more organized in this book.

Anyway, if you agree with him or not, it is definitely an interesting read.

November 7^th, 2014

Chicago