Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe invites the public to a question and answer session, booksigning and reading by bestselling author Reza Aslan on September 14th, at 3:00 p.m. Aslan is the author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, named one of the best books of the year by Good Housekeeping, Booklist, •Publishers Weekly, and• Bookish.
“"Riveting
. . . Aslan synthesizes Scripture and scholarship to create an original
account." ”—The New
Yorker
"“A
lucid, intelligent page-turner.”"
—Los Angeles Times
"“Aslan’'s insistence on human and
historical actuality turns out to be far more interesting than dogmatic
theology, and certainly more intriguing and exciting for any modern reader… This tough-minded, deeply
political book does full justice to the real Jesus, and honors him in the
process.”" —San Francisco Chronicle
"“Drawing
on a well-established body of scholarship, Aslan paints a vivid, accessible
portrait of Jesus as a Jewish nationalist, “a zealous revolutionary swept up, as all Jews of the era were,
in the religious and political turmoil of first-century Palestine."” —The Tablet
“"[Aslan’s] literary talent is as essential
to the effect of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth as are his
scholarly and journalistic chops…
a vivid, persuasive portrait of the world and societies in which Jesus lived
and the role he most likely played in both.… Fascinating."”
—Salon.com
"“Aslan
may come as close as one can to respecting those who revere Jesus as the
peace-loving, turn-the-other-cheek, true son of God depicted in modern
Christianity, even as he knocks down that image… Aslan is steeped in the history, languages and scriptural
foundation of the biblical scholar and is a very clear writer with an
authoritative, but not pedantic, voice. Those of us who wade into this genre
often know how rare that is.
—The Seattle Times
"“Aslan
brings a fine popular style, shorn of all jargon, to bear on the presentation
of Jesus of Nazareth… [Y]ou
don’t have to lose your
religion to learn much that’s
vitally germane to its history from Aslan’s absorbing, reader-friendly book.”" —Booklist
(starred review)
“"Aslan
…offers a compelling argument
for a fresh look at the Nazarene, focusing on how Jesus the man evolved into
Jesus the Christ….
Compulsively readable and written at a popular level, this superb work is
highly recommended."” —Publisher’s Weekly (Starred
review)
ZEALOT
The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
By Reza Aslan
A Random House Trade Paperback · On Sale: September 9,
2014
Scholar of religions Reza Aslan’s provocative and meticulously researched biography ZEALOT
(Random House Trade Paperback, On Sale September 9, 2014) landed on the New
York Times bestseller list soon after its release in hardcover, then becamepart
of a national dialogue after a controversial interview on FoxNews.com went
viral and propelled it to the top of the bestseller list. The film rights have
since been acquired by Lionsgate and will be produced by David Heyman (Harry
Potter and Gravity), and written by James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain). Now
available in paperback, this #1 New York Times bestseller continues to
challenge the long-held assumptions about the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth.
In Zealot, Aslan sifts through centuries of mythmaking
and sheds new light on one of history’s
most enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous
era in which he lived: first-century Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic
fervor. Scores of Jewish prophets, preachers, and would-be messiahs wandered
through the Holy Land, bearing messages from God. This was the age of zealotry—a fervent nationalism that made
resistance to the Roman occupation a sacred duty incumbent on all Jews.
Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against the historical
sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction: a man of peace who exhorted his followers
to arm themselves with swords; an exorcist and faith healer who urged his
disciples to keep his identity a secret; and ultimately the seditious “King of the Jews” whose promise of liberation from
Rome went unfulfilled in his brief lifetime. Aslan explores the reasons why the
early Christian church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful
spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary. And he
grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself, the mystery that is
at the heart of all subsequent claims about his divinity.
Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest
stories ever told even as it affirms the radical and transformative nature of
Jesus of Nazareth’s life and
mission. The result is a thought-provoking, elegantly written biography with
the pulse of a fast-paced novel.
About the Author:
Dr. Reza Aslan is a professor of creative writing at the
University of California, Riverside. He was previously Wallerstein
distinguished visiting professor of religion, conflict, and community at Drew
University, where he taught from 2012 to 2013, and assistant visiting professor
of religion at the University of Iowa, where he taught from 2000 to 2003. He serves on the board of trustees for the
Chicago Theological Seminary and sits on a numerous foreign policy
councils.
Dr. Aslan holds a bachelor’s degree in religious studies and a minor in biblical Greek
from Santa Clara University (1992-1995). He has a master of theological studies
at the Divinity School from Harvard University (1997-1999), and a Ph.D. in
sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. (UCSB’s doctoral program is an
interdisciplinary one that draws from religion, history, philosophy, and
sociology, among other fields. Aslan’s
doctorate in sociology encompasses expertise in the history of religion.) He
also has a master of fine arts in fiction degree from the University of Iowa,
where he was named the Truman capote Fellow in Fiction. Dr. Aslan's first book,
No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, was an
international bestseller. In addition, he authored How to Win a Cosmic War:
God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror. Dr. Aslan has also edited
two volumes: Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East,
and Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, Complexities. Dr.
Aslan is the founder ofAslanMedia.com, which is a social media site for news
and information on the greater Middle East. He has written for numerous
publications and is a frequent guest on major news networks. He is the
recipient of the Levantine Cultural Center’s East-West Media Award (2012), the Media Bridge-Builder Award
from the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding (2013), and in 2014
he became an Intersections a Honoree for his work promoting justice,
reconciliation, and peace.
Website: www.rezaaslan.com
/ Twitter: @RezaAslan
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