The Jesus of history under new scrutiny

A few weeks ago I read “Zealot, the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” by Reza Aslan.

As I read, I knew that I would be writing a column about the book. Then I saw Dr. Aslan interviewed on PBS. I decided that my next column should be about Aslan and his book.

The book is of special interest to me because our experiences are similar. Aslan was a devout Evangelical Christian, as was I. Aslan decided that he wanted to know more about the Jesus of history. So also did I. The pursuit took us both through the last 200 years of scholarly search for the historical Jesus and through the intense search for the historical Jesus that has taken place in the past 40 years or so. While Aslan no longer identifies himself as an Evangelical Christian, I do.

Aslan has written a very readable book. He has written a 216-page epistle that reads like a novel. The book is very inviting to the layperson who has no particular background in critical Bible or history research. Aslan readily admits that what we know about Jesus is limited and sketchy at best. In recent decades, our knowledge of the politics, economics, social structures and religions of the Holy Land has expanded rapidly. In putting together our image of Jesus, we know only a bit about Jesus. We know a lot more about the context in which he lived. It is only natural that devout pursuers of the historical Jesus tend to fill in the blank spots with both probability and a healthy imagination. Aslan does exactly that. He fills in the blank spots to fill out his image of Jesus from Nazareth.

Dr. Aslan writes his biography of Jesus without footnotes. In the body of the book he never attempts to separate what scholars consider facts and the opinions of Reza Aslan. At the end of the book, Aslan adds 50 pages of end notes in fine print. Few readers will bother turning to the end notes.

As a conscientious student of both Bible and the search for the historical Jesus, I was very aware of the places in the book where I knew he lapsed from fact to his own opinions and perspectives.

To understand Jesus and what he was about, Aslan believes that we must begin with the story of the so-called Cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem sometime in the last week of his life. It is the event that makes his issues clear and explains, from a human point-of-view, why he was violently put to death. I agree completely. So also do all the New Testament scholars of which I am aware. The ruckus in the Temple Courtyard took place and was the direct cause of the crucifixion of Jesus.

A huge disagreement exists over the nature of the ruckus that Jesus caused. Were the actions that Jesus took violent? Aslan answers that question with an emphatic “yes.” His narrative about the cleansing is graphic and fascinating. It is great reading. Here I must take exception with Aslan. The acts of Jesus were aggressive and action filled. However, I see it as street theatre. The action was to get attention and to make a point. I have scholarly support in my disagreement with Aslan.

Aslan sees the temple episode, not as a cleansing of the temple, but the beginning of the overthrow of the entire temple system. I agree. Aslan sees Jesus angrily coming to the task with weapons of destruction. I disagree. I see Jesus coming in nonviolent action much as Martin Luther King Jr. brought nonviolent action to overthrow racism in America.

In Aslan’s argument for Jesus being a man of violence, he takes us back to the area known as Galilee, some 70 miles north of Jerusalem. He, I believe, accurately describes the terrible economic plight of Galileans. Poverty had been brought on by an ugly alliance between the priests, Pharisees and Sadducees of Judaism and Roman rulers. Extreme wealth had gone to the few and poverty had gone to the many. Land ownership had moved to the absentee super rich, and economic slavery was the heritage of rural folk. Jesus lived among the poorest of the poor. He became the pedagogue of the oppressed.

Galilee became the seedbed of zealots. Eventually, Galileans became a driving force behind a formal political movement called the Zealots, but that was not until some 25 to 30 years later. Jesus lived and taught among people of poverty who were angry over their plight. The Zealots in their roots and in their later organized form were advocates of violence. All men carried knives. Aslan sees Jesus as a knife-carrying Zealot. I disagree. He was a Zealot in that he advocated the overthrow of the economic and religious powers that dominated Palestine. He called for justice. He believed there was a better way.

Aslan’s book was published early in 2013. The book was not selling particularly well. Then he was interviewed on Fox television. Many thought the Fox interviewer was very unfair to Aslan. “Zealot” zoomed to the top of the bestseller list and is still there. It is a great read and will be read by millions of people. The book cannot be ignored.

The Jesus of history needs a lot more attention. I am not certain that Aslan’s version is entirely helpful.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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