. >> when a muslim who starts to write about jesus, all of a sudden the knives comes out. >> the life and times of jesus of nazareth. >>> reza aslan. pleasure to have you. >> thank you for having me. >> look at the conversation you started with this book, "zealot", the life and times of jesus of nazareth. the jesus that so many of us came to know through the bible through pastors was also the jesus of your youth. >> that's right. yeah, when i was 15 years old, i heard the gospel story for the first time. it was a transformative story for me. i didn't grow up with much religious teaching. when we came to the united states to iran, we scrubbed our history, the 1980s was not a time to be of iran ian origin. i was deeply spiritual kid. didn't have much instruction. but maybe what it had to could with childhood images of revolutionary iran, the way in which i experienced in a deep and profound way the way that religion has a power to transform a society for good and for bad. i think that really seared itself in my subconscious because i have always been deeply interested in religious matters. but sometime in high school

. >> when a muslim who starts to write about jesus, all of a sudden the knives comes out. >> the life and times of jesus of nazareth. >>> reza aslan. pleasure to have you. >> thank you for having me. >> look at the conversation you started with this book,

wants to cut through all that and returned to the simplicity as he sees it and directness of jesus of nazareth> one tool to apparently cut through this is this new commission, the papal g-8 as some are calling it. its founding was seen by some as a bit of a revolution. what can we expect to come out of it? >> i do not think that pope francis himself quite knows. i'm reminded of what pope john xxiii did in 1959 when he called the vatican council together. somebody asked him what he expected of it, and he allegedly just simply thought for a moment and then opened a window and said let in some fresh air. it changed more in the catholic church probably than any other single event since the late middle ages. pope francis, i think, has an instinct that he wants to get back to the roots of christianity, and he wants a revival based on the roots of christianity. where exactly that will lead in terms of bringing in cardinals from various parts of the world. >> so he wants a revival, but what about the teachings of the church? not just on sexuality and the sanctity of life, but on core topics like and f

. >> when a muslim who starts to write about jesus, all of a sudden the knives comes out. >> the life and times of jesus of nazareth> reza aslan. pleasure to have you. >> thank you for having me. >> look at the conversation you started with this book,

there is less known about julius caesar than about jesus of nazareth. rything about julius caesar, but not christ, why is that? >> the devil is very clever how he masked over this and people avoid christ. there is more evidence jesus lived than caesar. the fact is jesus came to this earth for sinners. that is how much god loves us. he gave his son to be the sacrifice for our sins. we trust him and put our faith in him, god will forgive us and heal our hearts. >> you were a rebellious teenager, if i recall. yes, you were. >> bye-bye. >> i'm here to help. you and i will get through this together. [applause] >> how are you folks

so brilliantly suggested, to literally save jesus from a euro centric brand of brutal christianity that in a real sense had nothing to do with jesus of nazareth. and so the brilliancy of our ancestors, who refused to go along with that brutal, invisible institution, as it were, in which they insisted before i be a slave, i be buried in my grave, go home to my god and be free. whenever you hear those on the right being wrong in terms of justifying i guess slavery in their own minds, because they basically are devaluing how bru brutal it was, it was an inflection of racial insensitivity, historical ignorance with an undercurrent of racism that they need to be delivered from, because they are also robbing themselves and this nation of the dignity that african ancestors showed in the face of that brutal and hella mied horror that cannot be compared to the affordable care act. >> and i would add also, dr. dyson, this is a case of the othering of people in america. we witness our president constantly being othered by those on the right. they're not sure if he's a christian or a muslim, if he's in kenya or even if he's born in the united states. the

jesus christ again in the middle of the pop culture. >> bill: not christ, in my book i never mention the word christ. jesus. >> jesus of nazarethon. look, when bill o'reilly writes a book about jesus, did you expect palm branches, bill? >> bill: no, i didn't expect the doctrine to be attacked. i expected me to be attacked not the doctrine how do you steerks mr. rudy? >> i think as i said sometimes there is a suspicion and i think this is a time that can sometimes be used to diminish the claims of religion in general. this. >> they may find it's disturbing some the claims. may upset some of the things that they hold dear. >> bill: like what, abortion? >> it could be. other issues as well. sometimes it's helpful to go back to the basics and say someone like pope francis just said, move away from some of the controversy and focus on the truly important things. >> bill: that's a good tactic for the christian believers. i agree the messenger has to be acceptable. here i think there is a more disturbing trend among secular progressives. that is if you are an openly -- if you make any open religious reference. then you are a nut and l

i believe the messiah is jesus of nazareth. i believe he is god incarnate. i believe he is all the promises of god and they are yes and amen in him. i believe he was crucified for sins and rates from the dead. i believe -- raised from the dead. i believe he is the ruler of all the cosmos. what i mean when i say that jesus is the messiah or the christ means that i would have no hope in this world -- i know who i am and i know what i am about and there is no way that i can stand before god, but hidden in christ and covered in the blood of christ i receive mercy and reconciliation before god. that is what we as christians call the gospel, the good news, that god is able to receive us and take us back as beloved children as we are found in christ. host: karen in connecticut. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i agree with some of the things that you talked about this morning. i am a born-again believer. praise god. i am so grateful for god saving my soul. there are a couple of things i want to say. you talked about the affordable care act. you sa

i believe the messiah is jesus of nazareth. i believe he is god incarnate. i believe he is all the promises of god and they are yes and amen in him. i believe he was crucified for sins and rates from the dead. raised from the dead. i believe he is the ruler of all the cosmos. what i mean when i say that jesus is the messiah or the christ means that i would have no hope in this world -- i know who i am and i know what i am about and there is no way that i can stand before god, but hidden in christ and covered in the blood of christ i receive mercy and reconciliation before god. that is what we as christians call the gospel, the good news, that god is able to receive us and take us back as beloved children as we are found in christ. host: karen in connecticut. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i agree with some of the things that you talked about this morning. i am a born-again believer. praise god. i am so grateful for god saving my soul. things i a couple of want to say. you talked about the affordable care act. is terriblet it legislation.

there is less known about julius caesar than about jesus of nazareth. esus came to this earth for sinners. that is how much god loves us. he gave his son to be the sacrifice for our sins. we trust him and put our faith in him, god will forgive us and heal our hearts. >> you were a rebellious teenager, if i recall. yes, you were. [ female announcer ] safeway presents real big deals of the week. or how to get great deals the easy way. you do enough flying around. that's why we give you real big club card deals. this week, load up on your favorite coke products. 12 packs are $2.77 each. tide is $16.99 for 150 ounces. that's under 20 cents a load. and oikos greek yogurt is just a buck. real big deals this week and every week. only at safeway. ingredients for life. >>> and that breaking news is happening at the 49ers new santa clara stadium. this is where a worker has been killed in a construction accident. now the investigation begins into how it all went wrong. good morning. thanks for being with us. i'm marla tellez. jon has the day off. let's get to nbc b

you know, there's -- the best model of leadership they know in the world is this guy jesus from nazareth. and you know, it's he who wants to be a leader should be a servant to all. so what you do is you serve all by work negligent long term to serve all -- working in the long term to serve all and not worrying about the short term. [applause] >> thank you all very much. she "milliken's bend: a civil war battle in history and memory." viewers to the southern festival in national. my name is nathan and i'm honored to introduce the author. she is an author of several books. she's an archivist, free-lance writer with a master's degree from ohio state university as well as the university of wisconsin madison ms. barnickel works at the national public library in the special collections division. she's here to discuss her new book "milliken's bend" which understand the modules and francis lane three award from the press for the most significant contribution to southern studies in a book published by the press here in 2013. also the current issue of the civil war times magazine called "milliken'

the my grandmother is from nazareth and i asked her about jesus when i was very little and she got very mad at me. she was old but that's a great way for a lot ofyoung people. especially if you are christian christian -- you don't have to be christian but if you are christian people or isa maze. how did you get to be christian? i'm from nazareth. and understand the, how did you get to be christian? this is part of it as well and also making those connections. i was talking with a young egyptian woman and i was saying how when i was in school i learned about egypt and how amazing it was but then i didn't know that egypt now was the same country. ancient egypt was amazing but modern egypt was an arab place. these are the things we have to do to make connections. we have to cannot bet it's the same place and it's got a long history. we can be proud of ancient egypt and also be proud of modern egypt. well, i don't know. >> it question over here and let's try to take a couple of questions at a time. over here and here. >> thank you very much for this wonderful presentation. the question i have is this. in my case i am a japanese-american and asian-a