Reza Aslan is a young Iranian-American Muslim activist. I happened to catch one of his acts a couple of years back at UCLA when he acted as a "moderator" for Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, the original would-be builder of the Ground Zero mosque, It was a one-sided propaganda feast designed to paint Rauf and Islam in as positive and peaceful light as possible. Frankly, Aslan came across as arrogant, which by most accounts he is.
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2011/05/faisal-abdul-rauf-appears-at-ucla.html
Aslan often engages in polemics with people like Islam-critics Robert Spencer and Pam Geller and apparently likes to tweet warlike and obscenity-laced challenges to them.
Now comes this young man out with a book on the life of Jesus ("Zealot-The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth") since he claims to be some sort of religious scholar. Well, I guess that's fair enough since Spencer has written a book or two on the life of the Prophet Mohammed. It seems, however, according to the below article by John Dickerson for Fox News that Aslan is making the interview circuit without disclosing that he is a Muslim-and an activist one at that.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/07/22/liberal-media-love-new-jesus-book-zealot-fail-to-mention-author-is-muslim/
In case you did not know, Muslims do consider Jesus as one in a line of prophets, Mohammed being the final one. They respect Jesus, but dispute that he ever even claimed to be the Son of God. I assume that Aslan's book does not attack Jesus. But since Aslan is such an expert on the subject, I would like to ask him if according to his research, Jesus ever killed anyone, led an army to fight wars, ever ordered anyone killed, or ever took anyone as a slave as part of the booty of war.
No, I don't plan to buy the book to find out.
Aslan doesn't just claim to be a religious scholar, he IS one. He has several degrees to his name that you can look up for yourself.
ReplyDeleteI've only started the book, but so far what I'm seeing is stuff that I've seen from other historical scholars, including Christian ones like John Dominic Crossan.
While it's true that Muslims view Jesus differently from Christians, it's my understanding that some of Aslan's conclusions aren't just different from what some Christians say, but also different from what many Muslims say. Basically, it's not a religious work, as it's just trying to piece together what can actually be known about Jesus by examining the time period in which he lived.
I've read Aslan's book "No God But God". The man may be Muslim, but he's hardly some kind of fundamentalist. He even refers to the story of Mohammed's revelation as "mythology".
"I would like to ask him if according to his research, Jesus ever killed anyone, led an army to fight wars, ever ordered anyone killed, or ever took anyone as a slave as part of the booty of war."
I'll come back and let you know when I'm done with it, but I really don't expect to find anything like that. I think it's only going to be offensive to Christians who are literalists and take issue with the fact that he doesn't accept the Gospels as accurate historical accounts. In that regard, he will no doubt upset some of his fellow Muslims, as he doesn't take the Koran as being literally true either.
jakes,
ReplyDeleteAssuming he is probably Shiite, he offends a lot of Muslims already. As I said before, having heard him speak and reading some of his comments to those who disagree with him, he comes across to me as an arrogant jerk. I also think it is disingenuous to make the round of Tv and press interviews and nobody bring up the fact that he is a Muslim activist. If that influences his take on the life of Jesus then should it not be more open?
And yes, I have read his scholarly qualifications. He is as much qualified to write this book as I was to write mine-except maybe for the book on Erlangen.
Enjoy the book and pls report back when done.
"If that influences his take on the life of Jesus then should it not be more open?"
ReplyDeleteI think it should, but by all indications, it seems to be totally irrelevant.
The lady who interviewed him did him a huge favor. He came off as likeable moderate guy and got a lot of free press for his book. And she came off unprofessional and dumb.
ReplyDeleteI don't care about the book. I have seen enough of Aslan. He is not a radical extremist religious person. He is just a guy I disagree with and who I think usually comes off like a douchebag who thinks very highly of himself.
I know Matan has posted here in the past. Someone at buzzfeed tracked down some of Aslan twits on twiter and Matan made the list.
http://tinyurl.com/aslantwitter
Sam Harris crushed him in their debate. All Aslan would come back with is that Harris was only looking at the surface of the text of the Koran and never addressed the points Harris made. And he debated for pro one state solution at UCLA and came off as a weak smug little emo kid. IMO, It is far better to try to achieve peace - even if it will be difficult to do it - than let things continue to go on and eventually have a civil war.
ReplyDeleteIn another discussion I saw with him he pretended that all religious beliefs are the same. I disagree. Beliefs matter and religious don't all end up at the same conclusions. He seemed to think religious knowledge and knowledge gained through science are equally valid ways to gain knowledge, which isn't true at all. I could go on but I got to go to bed and I am just rambling.