Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth is out on 15 August, and is available in the UK now in ebook form.From The Fourth R Volume 26, Issue 6 November/December 2013 The Westbourne Press was set up in 2012 by Saqi Books, a publisher specialising in North Africa and the Middle East. It's his job as a professor of religion to write, he hasn't a faith-based agenda.' In the Fox News interview, which formed part of the US publicity tour for Zealot, interviewer Lauren Green asked: 'You're a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?'Īslan replied: 'To be clear, I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim.' Later, interviewed by Piers Morgan, he said had been 'embarrassed' by the question.Īlbert said: 'I was incredibly impressed at how poised Aslan was, he saw very quickly that they had a particular axe to grind and that the presenter hadn't read the book and was not prepared. The Iranian-American author's two previous books were published in the UK by Random House, but following success with Guardian first book award-shortlisted No God But God, which sold nearly 13,000 copies, Aslan's follow-up title, How to Win a Cosmic War, sold only 707 copies in hardback and paperback, the official charts company Nielsen BookScan confirmed.

It addresses not Jesus Christ but Jesus of Nazareth, a historical figure, asking who was this man and what were the dynamics of first-century Palestine that gave rise to the sort of zealotry from which he arose? It's also about how religion is inseparable from politics, and how the Church has made use of his life.' 'The book would appeal to those who care nothing for religion, but care for history and biography. 'The storm of attention has played out over here too, so we thought it best to bring it out,' Albert said.

Video footage of Aslan's appearance on Fox – which showed presenter Lauren Green repeatedly push him on how, as a Muslim, he felt qualified to write a book about Jesus, despite his patient explanations of the scholarly nature of his work – was watched by five million people after being posted on buzzfeed, under the headline Is This The Most Embarrassing Interview Fox News Has Ever Done?

Zealot by reza aslan