By John S. Dickerson
Reza Aslan, author of the new book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
” has been interviewed on a host of media outlets in the last week. Riding a publicity wave, the book has surged to #2 on Amazon’s list.
Media reports have introduced Aslan as a “religion scholar” but have failed to mention that he is a devout Muslim.
His book is not a historian’s report on Jesus. It is an educated Muslim’s opinion about Jesus — yet the book is being peddled as objective history on national TV and radio.
Aslan is not a trained historian. Like tens of thousands of us he has been formally educated in theology and New Testament Greek.
He is a bright man with every right to hold his own opinion about Jesus—and to proselytize his opinion.
As a sincere man, Aslan’s Muslim beliefs affect his entire life, including his conclusions about Jesus. But this is not being disclosed. “Zealot” is being presented as objective and scholarly history, not as it actually is—an educated Muslim’s opinions about Jesus and the ancient Near East.
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It is always a curious thing why this sort of nonsense is re-linked.
The article links to an Aslan interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, where Aslan discusses his acceptance of Islam ( following encouragement from Christian friends, no less) after losing his Christian faith. all of that is discussed in the opening pages if his book. The article mentions the Daily Show interview, but in that interview there is mention that he is a Muslim, in a joke about reaction to his book, of course. The Joe Scarborough interview does not explicitly mention thaat Aslan is a muslim, although referring to a former republican congressman who was somewhat adversarial in the interview as “the liberal media” seems more than a little bit of a stretch.
Reza Aslan is a well known writer and public figure, and the fact that he is a muslim is hardly a secret to anyone who is marginally informed. The conclusions of his book clearly are at odds with orthodox Islam as well as orthodox Christianity.
Just what are you trying to accomplish, and what is the point?