Reza Aslan's New Book On Jesus Stirs Up Controversy

Reza Aslan's new book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth has reached No. 1 on Amazon.com and is expected to debut on the New York Times bestseller list this weekend. According to USA Today, Aslan wants to "show the power of Jesus as a flesh-and-blood human being, rather than the savior of the world." However, critics say that Aslan has "created his own version of Jesus" and question if his Muslim faith makes him qualified to write on the subject.

Aslan joined a Young Life group in California when he was 15, but began to feel that "the Christ he learned about in Church wasn't as interesting as the actual Jesus of Nazareth." According to Aslan, Jesus was more of a revolutionary than a celestial being, taking on the "religious and political powers of his day on behalf of the poor and dispossessed." Aslan also compares Jesus to Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln when he says that Jesus' death turned him into a "larger than life figure."

A recent interview on the Fox News online program Spirited Debate has caused controversy as Aslan's faith as a practicing Muslim was continuously called into question, leading to accusations that "Fox was Islamaphobic." The interview also increased book sales, causing Random House to add a second printing of "50,000 additional copies after the interview aired."

Steven Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University, has criticized Aslan's writing, suggesting that Aslan's "perspective as a Muslim may have influenced his writing." Prothero even said that the Jesus in Zealot seems "more like a failed version of the prophet Muhammed than the figure depicted in the Bible." While many critics seem to disagree with aspects of Aslan's portrayal of Jesus, the lack of information about Jesus the man is generally agreed upon.

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