REZA ASLAN (Author, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth): I think it\u2019s incorrect to say that the followers of Jesus, and certainly the church fathers in the second and third centuries, changed Jesus\u2019 message. I think that\u2019s an incomplete statement. The fact of the matter is that Jesus\u2019 message was in a constant state of change. Remember, none of these words were written down until, at the earliest, 70 A.D. That\u2019s about 40 years after Jesus\u2019 death when the first Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, was written. And the Gospel of Mark was not written until after the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the period in which Judaism itself had become a kind of pariah religion, an illegitimate cult, in the Roman Empire. So, the Gospel writers at that point began this process that was really, in many ways, already underway, which was to sort of transform and redefine, reapply Jesus\u2019 message, particularly for a non-Jewish audience. And so that process really continued until the middle of the fourth century, when, as a result of Constantine\u2019s conversion to Christianity, an attempt was made to actually create a sense of orthodoxy. But really, up until that point, you can\u2019t say that there was any such thing as Christianity. What we really see is Christianities, in fact, many, many dozens of versions of it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had a unique experience with Jesus, both as a worshipper and as a scholar studying him. I feel like it\u2019s given me a different kind of perspective. On the one hand, knowing what it is to worship Jesus has given me a profound sense of respect for the faith of Christianity….<\/p>\n