by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Citizen Journalist
Reza Aslan is a religious scholar who has a doctorate in the
history of religions – and he has studied the New Testament for over twenty
years. He is also a fine writer. Aslan is clearly qualified to sift through
the remaining evidentiary material and publish a biography on the life of Jesus
Christ.
Aslan’s new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, reportedly goes a long way toward demystifying Christ and portrays him as illiterate rustic who was highly
charismatic and had a strong message.
Aslan challenges some of the basic stories of the New Testament, many of
which are contradicted other places within the Gospels. He even has the temerity to suggest that Jesus
was probably not born in Bethlehem.
The radical reassessment of Jesus should have provided
plenty of fodder for Fox “journalist”
Lauren Green to tear into the author when she interviewed him on America’s
least fair and balanced television network.
Inexplicably, however, Ms. Green, who apparently did not even bother to
read the book prior to the interview, took an unexpected approach to grilling
the author. Instead of attacking what he
wrote or even his methodology, she sailed into a personal attack.
Reza Aslan, you see, while eminently qualified to speculate
in print on the life of Jesus Christ, is also a Muslim. How, Ms. Green wondered aloud, could a Muslim
write about Jesus? Like a dog with a bone, Ms. Green clung
tenaciously to her point for ten grueling minutes, repeatedly pointing out that
the author was Muslim, ergo incapable of writing accurately about Jesus – all
the while ignoring the content of his book.
The American
Conservative magazine was appalled with the interview and referred to it as
“cringe-worthy,” “ignorant,” and “breathtakingly incurious.” Or, as some might see it, standard Fox fare.
Lauren Green’s interview did produce results, however,
though probably not what she and her corporate masters had hoped for. “Zealot” was suddenly the book everyone
wanted to read and it quickly shot to number one at Amazon .
I’ve ordered my copy.
Obviously there is a God.
1 comment:
Gotta tell you I ordered my copy within seconds of watching the "cringe-worthy" (and it was all of that) video.
Azlan is a brilliant scholar and I can't wait to read his take on the life of Jesus.
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