A #1 New York Times Bestseller Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher walked across the Galilee gathering followers to establish the "Kingdom of God." He was tortured and executed as a state criminal. Within decades, his followers would call him God. Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history''s most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived.