Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 05-30-2010, 09:12 AM

interview

Reza Aslan is a modern religious and political scholar of Iranian background, with a degree in comparative religion.

Quote:

NS: I understand that you have a new book about Jesus in the works. What can we expect from it?

RA: It is actually a biography of Jesus of Nazareth, a look at Jesus the radical political figure, whose more—let’s just say—problematic ideas were whitewashed in the canonized Gospels.

NS: Are you reading Jesus through the Islamic tradition?

RA: No. This is a straight-up biography of the man named Jesus of Nazareth. Who was this man? What can we know about him and his times? And how can we translate what we think were his words and actions into an idea of what he really meant and what he actually thought?

NS: Why is this character so important to you? Why Jesus?

RA: I have always been fascinated by him. While I was in high school, I converted to Evangelical Christianity and got to know Jesus as a devotee. Then, when I went away from that and back to my Muslim roots, I took a love for Jesus’ message with me into a new way of thinking about what Jesus actually meant and how that message applies to people outside of the Evangelical community. I became incredibly fascinated with the historical Nazarene who walked on this Earth for such a brief time. I’ve come to the conclusion, in twenty years of academic research, that there was absolutely nothing special, unusual, or extraordinary about Jesus of Nazareth. He was one of dozens of people who were saying the exact same things, doing the exact same things, performing the exact same miracles, in this incredibly turbulent time and place called first-century Palestine. The much more interesting question, to me, is: why do we remember Jesus, and why have we forgotten all the rest of them?

Jesus himself was the quintessential reformer. Whatever else you think Jesus said, his message can be simplified into this one, fundamental truth: the Temple does not have the right to define what it means to be Jewish; authority rests in the hands of individual Jews, and they need no mediator to tell them how to reach God. If that doesn’t sound like Martin Luther and, frankly, like Bin Laden, then you’re not paying attention.

jgreen44 · 05-30-2010, 10:38 AM

"Without demolishing religious schools (madrassahs) and minarets and without abandoning the beliefs and ideas of the medieval age, restriction in thoughts and pains in conscience will not end. Without understanding that unbelief is a kind of religion, and that conservative religious belief a kind of disbelief, and without showing tolerance to opposite ideas, one cannot succeed."

- Rumi

Doug Shaver · 05-31-2010, 06:35 AM

Of course I think he's all wet about Jesus, but nobody's perfect. All things considered, he seems like a pretty interesting guy.

Clivedurdle · 05-31-2010, 02:42 PM

Maybe we should go explicitly Freudian and ask about men loving Jesus.

Elijah · 05-31-2010, 06:44 PM

I thought that this was a pretty good read, especially the stuff about communities coming together online and effecting change which I thought related to this group and its potential for creating change in the world and religion.

Quote:

you talk about faith as a uniting force and religion as a dividing force, which is a familiar distinction in a lot of contemporary American spiritualities.

I like that but then I find it a little ironic he seems to be calling the attempt at unification of the people around faith in Jesus, as found in the Gospels, as white washing over someone simply promoting your standard unification kind of mysticism. His current book may be worth reading and I am curious to see what he thinks the reason Jesus took off if he was preaching the same ol message in his new one. The martyrdom meme of Jesus or Paul ignoring works and allowing Gentiles in? Probably something else.

I also liked his talk about how the academic minded people in this discussion need to be putting some effort into getting the new information being generated in this new information age to the masses in a more digestible format.

Why is he exalting Bin Laden like that? What is the ideological contribution to the Muslim world that he is known for?

dettus · 06-03-2010, 05:26 AM

Mr. "Sophisticated" can screw off, IMO.

Minimalist · 06-03-2010, 08:42 AM

Perhaps for his next project he can write a "biography" of Elmer Fudd?

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05-30-2010, 10:38 AM	#2
jgreen44 Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: About 120 miles away from aa5874 Posts: 268	"Without demolishing religious schools (madrassahs) and minarets and without abandoning the beliefs and ideas of the medieval age, restriction in thoughts and pains in conscience will not end. Without understanding that unbelief is a kind of religion, and that conservative religious belief a kind of disbelief, and without showing tolerance to opposite ideas, one cannot succeed." - Rumi

05-31-2010, 06:35 AM	#3
Doug Shaver Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: San Bernardino, Calif. Posts: 5,435	Of course I think he's all wet about Jesus, but nobody's perfect. All things considered, he seems like a pretty interesting guy.

05-31-2010, 02:42 PM	#4
Clivedurdle Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 16,024	Maybe we should go explicitly Freudian and ask about men loving Jesus.

06-03-2010, 05:26 AM	#6
dettus Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: where apologists for religion are deservedly derid Posts: 6,298	Mr. "Sophisticated" can screw off, IMO.

06-03-2010, 08:42 AM	#7
Minimalist Veteran Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 1,808	Perhaps for his next project he can write a "biography" of Elmer Fudd?

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