. >> host: reza aslan is joining us. his most recent book is "zealot the life and times of jesus of nazareth." professor, since the last time we saw you on our in depth program a couple years ago, we have a new pope, there's been a rise in isis and more people are identifying as atheists than ever before. what's your take on those topics? >> guest: first of all i'm a big fan of the pool. i'm a product of a jesuit education, and the men and you are going to have a jesuit pope i knew that things were going to be different. if anybody is familiar with the history of the catholic church and the four genocide of the jesuits have been in the church for centuries, i think you knew this was going to be a revolution moment. he has not failed to live up to the expectation. what i would say quickly about this pope is his learned a veryy valuable lesson from his predecessor, pope benedict. and that is that you can't really reform the vatican. the vatican is just too unwieldy for it to be reformed, but you can reform the church.and i

everybody is drawing from. >> host: a couple of viewers referenced the longer interview tie did with reza aslan it was in july 2014, i believe. you can watch all three hours of our discussion with rezas a lan online. just two quick quotes from "zealot. "." the common depiction of jesus has a peacemaker who loved his enemies and turned the other cheek has been built mostly on his portrayal as an apolitical preacher with interest in or for that matter knowledge of the politically turbulent world in which he lived. that picture of jesus has already been shown to be a complete fabrication that jesus of history had a far more complex attitude toward violence. kim in pennsylvania, please go ahead with your question or comment. >> caller: hi. well, you sort of answered -- i wanted to know a brief summary of what your book was about, but if he could goo into more detail why your book is different from other scholarly books on jesus. >> guest: sure. sure. >> host: can you, tim. >> guest: my book is' the world in which jesus lived. this incredibly turbulent, apocalyptic era in the first century, an era i

in the meantime, reza aslan is joining us. his most recent book isset" lot.the life and times of jesus of nazareth." the last time we saw you on the show, we have a new pope, a rise in isis, and more people are identifying as athiests than ever before. what is your take on this topic? >> guest: well first of all, big fan of the pope. i'm a product of a jesuit education, and the minute that i newell we were going to have a jesuit pope i knew things were going to be different. if anybody is familiar with the history of the catholic church and the thorn in the side of the jesuits have been in that church for centuries. think you knew that this is going to be a revolutionary moment, and he has not failed to really live up to the expectations a lot had of him. what i would say very quickly about this pope is that he has learned a very valuable lesson from his predecessor, pope benedict, and that is that you can't really reform the vatican. the vatican is too unwieldy for it to be reformed. but you can reform the church. and i think that the -- pope francis learned

reza aslan talks about his book. go to booktv.org for the complete weekend schedule. >>> white house cabinet secretary broderick johnson went back to his alma mater, the university of michigan law school, to explain to students what it is like working at the white house for president obama. he also discussed the white house my brother's keeper task force which he chairs and his observations about president obama's priorities in his last year in office. he spoke for about an hour. >> good afternoon, everybody. welcome. i'm susan collins, from the gerald r. ford school of public policy. it's wonderful to have all of you join us this afternoon. today it is really an honor to be introducing broderick johnson who joins us as part of the university's month-long martin luther king jr. symposium. in that context as well, it's really a special pleasure to have all of you here with us for today's policy talks. broderick is assistant to president obama, white house cabinet secretary and chair of the president's my brother's kee