A Sound of Sheer Silence

Reza Aslan, whose work I was not previously aware of, has written a book entitled Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth .  This book, and Mr. Aslan, has attracted attention as the result of an embarrassing interview conducted by Fox News , in which the interviewer attempted to confront Mr. Aslan with the revelation that he was a Muslim, a fact which was never in question and not particularly relevant to the topic at hand.  However, beyond the controversy, the book is yet another example of the "Quest for the Historical Jesus," which becomes a fashionable topic in the broader culture every few years or so. I have not read Mr. Aslan's book, but I listened to an extended interview he did with Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks.  Mr. Aslan's thesis, at least based on the interview, is that Jesus must have been a political revolutionary (hence the title "Zealot") because he claimed to be the Messiah, and the Jewish people of Jesus's day interpreted ...