After author Reza Aslan’s Fox News interview went viral, it wasn’t matter of if there would a ‘Zealot’ film but when. Lionsgate has purchased the rights to New York Times bestseller “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.” The controversial narrative looks at Jesus not through the lens of modern day Christianity, but as the Romans would likely have seen him: dangerous.
Aslan also proposes that the gospels were never meant to be a historical record of Jesus’ life, but testimonies of faith. That stance alone has earned him an army of detractors. Lionsgate is using the time-honored entertainment industry theory that there is no such thing as bad publicity. In so many ways, this movie sells itself.
The question that dominated his Fox News interview was “Can a Muslim author write a book about Christianity without bias?” I fall into the camp that says of course he can. One does not need to be a French emperor to research and write about Napoleon Bonaparte. It’s not necessary to play football to write about it, despite what some athletes might believe to the contrary. I write extensively about Batman and Green Arrow for this site and have never battled crime while wearing spandex.
I think I’m looking forward to the inevitable debate between Aslan and Megyn Kelly in Fox News’ primetime than the movie.