The most trusted NEWS source in America?

[Irvine511]

wow. this is breathtakingly offensive.

Muslim Author Reza Aslan: I Knew 'What I Was Getting Into' By Going On Fox News - YouTube

Fox: “You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?”

Aslan: “Well, to be clear, I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim.”

good gravy. you can't write about Jesus if you are a Muslim?

at least he does a good job defending himself and making the interviewer look like the fool she is, or that Roger Ailes and his talking points are paying her to be.

here's the "review" she was paid to defend:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/...hor-is-muslim/

[Pearl]

Jesus is mentioned in the Qu'ran several times, and Muslims see him as a great prophet. So why can't he write about Jesus? I think Deepak Chopra wrote about Jesus too, though from a spiritual POV than a scholarly one.

[Irvine511]

the reviewer sure is worried about Muslims:

As a journalist and author who is Christian I cannot imagine penning a so-called objective biography of Muhammad and then concealing my conflict of interest in national media interviews.

In world history there are no religions more violently and anciently opposed than the crusading, fighting, at times blood-shedding rivals of historic Islam and historic Christianity. Even non-violent Muslims and Christians, like Aslan and myself, understand that we hold aggressively oppositional views—particularly about Jesus. National news coverage of “Zealot” has ignored this conflict of interest.

[...]

My concern is that national media coverage be smart and forthright about this conflict of interest, just as it would be if I—a Christian author and pastor—wrote a book about Muhammad.

Pouring praise onto “Zealot” as new information about Jesus, without explaining its author’s devotion to a combatting religion, is blatant bias. This same bias would be unthinkable if the Christian and Muslim roles were reversed.


Read more: Liberal media love new Jesus book 'Zealot', fail to mention author is Muslim | Fox News

[deep]

watching that, was very telling
one reasonable person and one zealot (used in today's context, not the zealot movement in the book - year 6 of the common era)


here is a link with an interview with two reasonable people
Interview: Reza Aslan, Author Of 'Zealot' : NPR

well worth a listen

[nathan1977]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

the reviewer sure is worried about Muslims:

He spends an awful lot of time hand-wringing over the ethics behind the writing and promoting of the book, when he could have just said this:

"“Zealot” is a fast-paced demolition of the core beliefs that Christianity has taught about Jesus for 2,000 years. Its conclusions are long-held Islamic claims—namely, that Jesus was a zealous prophet type who didn’t claim to be God, that Christians have misunderstood him, and that the Christian Gospels are not the actual words or life of Jesus but “myth.”

"These claims are not new or unique. They are hundreds of years old among Muslims. Sadly, readers who have listened to interviews on NPR, "The Daily Show," Huffington Post or MSNBC may pick up the book expecting an unbiased and historic report on Jesus and first century Jewish culture. (I will let my Jewish friends address Aslan’s statement on MSNBC that, “there were certainly a lot of Jewish terrorists in first century Palestine.”)"

...and it would have been sufficient.

A number of books have been written questioning the veracity of the historicity of the Gospels over the years, making dubious historical claims about Jesus being married or whatever, using fragments of fragments of fragments of parchments, and then using broad Greek translations. Nearly all of these wind up being discredited or revealed as hoaxes, while modern archaeology continues to find sites of cities that were once thought to be fables. Aslan's book sounds like it's the latest. It's certainly not worth getting up in arms about; it will join the dustbin of history as surely as the others will.

[BoMac]

Fox News Host Never Asked Baptist College Professor Why He Wrote Book About Islam

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by nathan1977

He spends an awful lot of time hand-wringing over the ethics behind the writing and promoting of the book, when he could have just said this:

"“Zealot” is a fast-paced demolition of the core beliefs that Christianity has taught about Jesus for 2,000 years. Its conclusions are long-held Islamic claims—namely, that Jesus was a zealous prophet type who didn’t claim to be God, that Christians have misunderstood him, and that the Christian Gospels are not the actual words or life of Jesus but “myth.”

"These claims are not new or unique. They are hundreds of years old among Muslims. Sadly, readers who have listened to interviews on NPR, "The Daily Show," Huffington Post or MSNBC may pick up the book expecting an unbiased and historic report on Jesus and first century Jewish culture. (I will let my Jewish friends address Aslan’s statement on MSNBC that, “there were certainly a lot of Jewish terrorists in first century Palestine.”)"

...and it would have been sufficient.

A number of books have been written questioning the veracity of the historicity of the Gospels over the years, making dubious historical claims about Jesus being married or whatever, using fragments of fragments of fragments of parchments, and then using broad Greek translations. Nearly all of these wind up being discredited or revealed as hoaxes, while modern archaeology continues to find sites of cities that were once thought to be fables. Aslan's book sounds like it's the latest. It's certainly not worth getting up in arms about; it will join the dustbin of history as surely as the others will.

at issue, for Fox, is not Aslan's book or conclusions, but that Aslan is a Muslim.

[nathan1977]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

at issue, for Fox, is not Aslan's book or conclusions, but that Aslan is a Muslim.

Sure.

Muslims obviously have a complicated relationship with anyone who dares question their founder, so there is understandably some tension when the reverse is true -- and I'm not sure that cries of "double standard!" aren't entirely inappropriate, and it would be fascinating to watch a roundtable discussion of Muslim and Christian scholars talking about the cultural ramifications of iconoclasm. But that would be asking too much from this particular exchange.

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by nathan1977

using fragments of fragments of fragments of parchments, and then using broad Greek translations. Nearly all of these wind up being discredited or revealed as hoaxes, while modern archaeology continues to find sites of cities that were once thought to be fables. Aslan's book sounds like it's the latest. It's certainly not worth getting up in arms about; it will join the dustbin of history as surely as the others will.

Lets not pretend the bibles are well provenanced journals of record; they're far from it. Nor should we pretend archeological finds support anything found in either of those books. And it would be in your best interested to not mention translations.

however, I'm up for pretending the floor is lava and jumping from couch to couch if you are

[AEON]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

Lets not pretend the bibles are well provenanced journals of record; they're far from it. Nor should we pretend archeological finds support anything found in either of those books. And it would be in your best interested to not mention translations.

however, I'm up for pretending the floor is lava and jumping from couch to couch if you are

Hey Jive,

The "truth" of the New Testament comes from a light that not everyone sees - for one reason or another.

I'm sure you've read you fair share of Bible over the years - but I was hoping you could indulge me to read the Gospel of John just as if you were reading a story (it would only take one night). If you can - please write down some adjectives that would describe Jesus as you read his words and follow him around Israel. I'm not trying to convert you - I have no power to do such a thing - I am curious what you would think about Jesus after read that Gospel.

I promise to read any other similar amount of pages on any topic (that is wife and family safe) that you want me to.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by nathan1977

Sure.

Muslims obviously have a complicated relationship with anyone who dares question their founder, so there is understandably some tension when the reverse is true -- and I'm not sure that cries of "double standard!" aren't entirely inappropriate, and it would be fascinating to watch a roundtable discussion of Muslim and Christian scholars talking about the cultural ramifications of iconoclasm. But that would be asking too much from this particular exchange.

He's a scholar who happens to be Muslim. Not a Muslim scholar.

Aslan: Ma’am, may I just finish my sentence for a moment, please? I think that the fundamental problem here is that you’re assuming that I have some sort of faith-based bias in this work that I write. I write about Judaism, I write about Hinduism, I write about Christianity, I write about Islam. My job as a scholar of religions with a PhD in the subject is to write about religions and one of the religions and one of the religions I’ve written about is the one that was launched by Jesus.

[Pearl]

I saw parts of the "interview". One thing many Christians forget is that Jesus isn't really the founder of Christianity. He may have created a movement where adherents could have a personal relationship with God, but the actual religion was really started by St. Paul.

[LJT]

Originally Posted by nathan1977

Sure.

Muslims obviously have a complicated relationship with anyone who dares question their founder, so there is understandably some tension when the reverse is true -- and I'm not sure that cries of "double standard!" aren't entirely inappropriate, and it would be fascinating to watch a roundtable discussion of Muslim and Christian scholars talking about the cultural ramifications of iconoclasm. But that would be asking too much from this particular exchange.

You are treating this man as some sort of representative of all of Islam, he comes across as a gentleman who welcomes questioning of religions including his own. What double standard is this man upholding? Does he personally say that there can be no criticism of his faith? All Muslims have issues with you questioning their faith? You are being daft here.

[Diemen]

Time for the next installment folks.