Part 3, Chapter 3-2 - The Nazarene (Sholem Asch)

"The Nazarene" is a wonderfully imagined re-telling of the life of Christ, executed magnificently and respectfully by one of the century's great writers. The story of Jesus is told from three distinct perspectives: a Roman, a disciple and a young Jew. Asch's inspired work presents a sweeping, glowing panorama of the Holy Land nearly two thousand years ago during the most dramatic period of human history. "The Nazarene" is a work of art as stimulating as it is reverent, as warmly satisfying as it is brilliant.

Sholem Asch (1880-1957) was a Polish-Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language who settled in the United States. Asch was believed to have adopted much of his own philosophies from his father, including love of God, love of neighbor, and concern for Jewish-Christian reconciliation. One of Asch's major goals in his writing was to articulate Jewish life, past and present, placing the Jew at the center of every work, along with an awareness of the Jewish relationship with the outside world. He was repelled and intrigued by Christian violence and was inspired by Jewish martyrdom and survival. Some of his most frequent recurring themes were faith, goodness, and generosity. Asch's fiction can mostly be put into three categories: Eastern European Jewish life; Jewish life in America; Biblical novels.