this is nazareth. >> you look beautiful. >> you do, too. >> we're at nazareth village, a place wheret what it would look like in biblical times. we will see how difficult it was for women back then. >> this is great for bad hair days. stick with us. you're going to learn something today. >>

. >> the book, zealot, the life and times of jesus of nazareth. you can see the interview went pretty well from reza's point of view. what were you thinking as that interviewer was asking those ridiculous questions? >> look, i mean truly i was kind of embarrassed. there's nothing more distasteful than an academic having to trot out his credentials. you really come off as a jerk when you do that. it was very hard to keep mentioning that i'm actually qualified to write this book, so let's talk about the book instead. >> it's obviously worked for you pretty well, people are talking about it, you're number one on amazon.com. it must be a good feeling. what is the premise of the book, and what is the conclusion that you reached? >> the book is an historical biography of a man named jesus of nazareth. it seems to separate him from the christology of the generations that followed. and it's an attempt to know what can we know about this man? we can know little about him, we know a lot about the world around him. he was a jew, he started a jewish movement

author of the book "zealot: the life and times of jesus of nazareth." linda sarsour. eric boehlert from "media matters." that's "all in." the "rachel maddow show" starts now with the one and only melissa harris perry sitting in for rachel. >> good evening, chris. thanks for that great show tonight. >> thank you. >>> thanks to you at home for staying with us the next hour. rachel has the night off, but if you are watching rachel, we will be joined later this hour by the chief of staff of san diego mayor bob filner who tonight has been accused of sexual misconduct by an eighth woman. that will be the interview tonight. and you are going to want to see it. >>> but, we begin here with a surprise victory. this was barack obama in january 2008 on the night he won the iowa democratic caucuses. senator obama was not supposed to win that night. senator hillary clinton was favored, but she came in third behind both senator john edwards and that new guy from illinois, the skinny one with the funny name. barack obama was not supposed to win iowa, but he did, and it gave him treme

the book is called zealot, the life and times of jesus of nazareth.have spring boarded you to the number one best selling book in the country. it's a terrific read. you don't need any hype from me, it's already doing it itself. good to talk to you. >>> the return of the grill, this man says the real injustice of the george zimmerman case is that he lost his gun. he's raised $12,000 to buy him a new one. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. congestion, for it's smog. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus. and now that the busses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution to the earth. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help o

by declaring israel a jewish state, i think it's a slap to fellow palestinians who are living in nazarethin ifa or in najaf. it's an emotional issue and the feeling is it would add to the discrimination against citizens of israel who are not jewish. >> do you think that on something like this, there is room for some kind of compromise? >> well, i think the whole issue of the palestinian israeli conflict is one that has to be resolved, obviously in private conversations, if there is serious interest in settlement that ends this conflict and there is a withdrawal of israel to the '67 borders, i think the palestinian side is willing to make verbal and other compromises to allow the israelis to accept the creation of a two-state solution. we are neighbors with the israelis, we want to be neighbors with the israelis this is not an attempt to create a religious war. palestinians just want to be free in their own country on their own land. the jewish people arsps, by the islamic faith. there's no problem with the jewish people, the question is whether the state of israel is a state for its citiz

out now with the new book, "zealot," the life and times of jesus of nazareth.? >> yeah, zealotry was a widely held principal in first century palestine, the age of jesus, that was predicated on the notion of god as the sole sovereign. that the land of israel needed to be cleansed of all of its, you know, pagan and heathen influences and rededicated to the chosen people. zealotry ultimately resulted in the jewish war about 30 years advertiser jesus died. this great revolt that kicked out the roman empire from the holy land. and resulted three years later in rome coming back and leveling the city and destroying jerusalem. the argument of the book is that same sentiment is deeply a part of who jesus was and the teachings that he preached. >> tell us about jesus the man and the different portraits of him that you found in your research for the book. >> i think we have this tendency to think jesus as some sort of, you know, invettorate pa atate passivist, which is of course completely at odds of the picture that emerges from historical study of him. this is a man wh

they had this man who is muslim and he wrote a book called "zealot the life and times of jesus of nazarethauren green said we have a muslim guy. he wrote a book about jesus. who does he think he is. and she didn't do her homework, and it played out like this. >> you are a muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of christianity. >> well, to be clear i am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including studying the origins of christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a muslim. so i'm not just some muslim writing about jesus. i am an expert with a phd in religion -- >> but why would you be interested in the founder of christianity. >> because it's my job as an academic. i am professor of religion. that's what i do for a living actually. >> it's amazing -- this is such a great interview. that goes on for a while. it is as though she was saying michael, you have a beard, yet you talk about people who don't have beards, how do you live with yourself? in addition, later on she thought she would catch him on another thought she has, which was that he never tells p

. : the life and times of jesus the nazareth." this has been sucked up in the viral whirlwind.fiting from the whole thing because the book is out everywhere and everyone's seen the sbrinterview. in some way, the best interview you did in the entire publicity tour for this book. >> well, that may be true. it certainly has allowed the book to be read by a different audience, a kind of audience that probably would not be interested in this kind of book. i am grateful for that. but i think at this point what's really fascinating to me, just from, you know, an academic perspective, is that this is no longer even about me. it's not about fox news. this has become a much needed larger discussion in the country about media and journalism and, you know, scholarship and faith in the role of religion in society. as a writer, as a thinker, i'm just absolutely thrilled that something that i thought would just be a small interview has launched this public discussion in this country. i'm really happy about that. >> reza, let me ask you about your personal trajectory. i listened to the intervi

. >> the book is "zealot, the life and times of jesus of nazareth."a, you won't see a bump because you can't go beyond one after this but i'm sure there have been some book sales juiced. thank you for your time. >> thanks, guys. >>> coming up, the jersey shore, lots of pork and deep seeded resentme resentment. if that sounds like a typical family reunion, you would be right. we'll talk about intraparty feuding and 2016 posturing after this. >> nice. ot. that's why dad got allstate accident forgiveness. it starts the day you sign up. [ female announcer ] with accident forgiveness from allstate, your rates won't go up just because of an accident, even if it's your fault. call 866-735-9100 now. kim and james are what you might call...overly protective. especially behind the wheel. nothing wrong with that. in fact, allstate gives them a bonus twice a year -- for being safe drivers. [ female announcer ] get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. switch to allstate today! call an allstate agent now and see how much you could save. now that

though, clearly, she just read the title because the title is zealot, the life and times of jesus in nazarethn that in a bad way. he means people called him a zealot. >> he's a political figure. but here's the other thing i think a lot of people don't know. in islam, jesus is an important, important prophet to us. he is as important as mohammed and abraham and moses. these are all of the major prophets of islam. mohammed -- if you're muslim, you know, mow hamed was the last prophet who gave the last word of god. but jesus is just as important. and i have friends who have come to shows where comics talk about moses in a negative way like smoking pot or something like that. muslims angered by that going how dare you make fun of moses. people don't realize the real practicing muslims, jesus, mohammed, moses are all on the same level. we don't worship mohammed in any way whatsoever. it is about god. the reason people get upset is they don't want you to worship mohammed. it is not that mohammed is sacrosanct. don't make him like jesus. just pray to god. >> stephanie: right. dean, i don't know if y