NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — For the third time, Jesus is about to change Reza Aslan’s life.
As a teenager, Aslan turned to Jesus in an evangelical youth group, where becoming a Christian made him feel like a real American.
He later studied Jesus of Nazareth in college, which led Aslan to a doctorate in the sociology of religion.
Now Aslan’s controversial new book about Jesus has made him a bestselling author. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth has reached No. 1 on Amazon.com and on The New York Times’s bestseller list.
Aslan said he wants to show the power of Jesus as a flesh-and-blood human being, rather than the savior of the world. That Jesus has gotten lost in 2,000 years of church history, he said.
But critics say Aslan has simply created his own version of Jesus. And they question whether a practicing Muslim and creative writing professor is qualified to write about Jesus.
For Aslan, the defining moment of Jesus’ life takes place not on Easter but a week earlier, on Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem to the cheers of thousands. Then he drove the moneylenders out of the temple, according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Those two acts were meant to spark a revolution, Aslan said, adding, he believes Jesus was a hero even though his revolution failed.
Aslan’s faith as a practicing Muslim caused controversy during a recent interview on the Fox News online program “Spirited Debate.” The show’s host asked the author why he, as a Muslim, wanted to write about Jesus. The interview video went viral and led to accusations that Fox was Islamophobic.
It also boosted book sales. Random House, Aslan’s publisher, reportedly added a second printing of 50,000 additional copies after the interview aired.