Books & Movies: Zealot

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/a-review-of-reza-aslans-zealot/" target="_blank"><strong>website.</strong></a></p><p><strong>I. THESIS</strong></p><img src="http://www.douglasjacoby.com/wp-content/uploads/th.jpg" alt="th" /><ul><li>Jesus was a zealot, advocating violence to overthrow the occupying Romans as well as the corrupt priesthood.<ul><li>For Jesus, the Kingdom of God is very much of this world [144]. John 18:36 has been totally misunderstood [117]. The kingdom is political.</li><li>Jesus intended that the twelve tribes be reconstituted for a single purpose: war [123].</li><li>Jesus was a violent man. The God of violence is “the <i>only</i> God that Jesus knew and the <i>sole</i> God he worshipped” [122]. However, later Aslan seems to backtrack: “Nor can Jesus be labeled a violent revolutionary bent on armed rebellion…” [79].</li></ul></li><li>Yet Jesus <i>failed</i> to reestablish nation of Israel [19].</li><li>The church changed the true Jesus into a more heavenly figure with merely otherworldly interests. They “transformed Jesus from a revolutionary zealot to a Romanized demigod, from a man who tried and failed to free the Jews from Roman oppression to a celestial being wholly uninterested in any<br />earthly matter” [171].</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>The apostle Paul was the leader of this reinterpretation. “[Paul’s] conception of Jesus as Christ would have been shocking and plainly heretical, which is why, around 57 C.E., James and the apostles demand that Paul come to Jerusalem to answer for his deviant teachings” [190]. The early church followed suit, and replaced the zealot Jesus with a heavenly figure [144], putting Paul's letters into the N.T. Today we have the wrong N.T., thanks to Paul’s influence [215].</li><li>Yet the Messiah was to be the Prince of Peace. "He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take