To me that’s less compelling than an actual human being who sacrifices himself on behalf of the dispossessed and the outcast. For many Christians … all of his actions and all of his suffering are put into the framework of his knowledge as an eternal being - everything he does is all for some greater spiritual good. To me that was far more meaningful than the relationship that I’d had with the Christ. In a sense I wanted to have, as Evangelicals put it, a personal relationship with Jesus of Nazareth. He was far more real than the celestial Christ I had been introduced to in my church. But for me, the more I studied the earthly Jesus and the world in which he lived, the powers that he confronted and the social ills that he addressed, the more real he became.
Compulsively readable and written at a popular level, this superb work is highly recommended.Millions of Christians in the world think that Jesus is fully God and fully man….
Approaching the subject from a purely academic perspective, the author parts an important curtain that has long hidden from view the man Jesus, who “is every bit as compelling, charismatic, and praiseworthy as Jesus the Christ.” Carefully comparing extra-biblical historical records with the New Testament accounts, Aslan develops a convincing and coherent story of how the Christian church, and in particular Paul, reshaped Christianity’s essence, obscuring the very real man who was Jesus of Nazareth. Aslan, who authored the much acclaimed No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, offers a compelling argument for a fresh look at the Nazarene, focusing on how Jesus the man evolved into Jesus the Christ. Much speculation about who he was and what he taught has led to confusion and doubt.
The person and work of Jesus of Nazareth has been a topic of constant interest since he lived and died some 2,000 years ago.
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