Jesus Needs Reza Aslan, Author of 'Zealot'

by Kirsten Powers Aug 11, 2013 The Daily Beast   

Most scholarly works on Islam are written by Christians or Jews, but Muslims rarely write about Christianity. Kirsten Powers talks to the author of 'Zealot' about the double standard.

 

 

What is it about Reza Aslan that has unhinged so many people?

The author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth is at the center of an inexplicable firestorm for writing a book about Jesus. He’s been treated to hair-splitting attacks on his academic credentials and claims of a secret Muslim agenda. Nearly every critic of the Iranian-American and Muslim author has fretted over whether he has the right to tackle his subject. In an interview, Aslan was exasperated, pointing out to me repeatedly that his credentials were never questioned when he wrote the bestselling, No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam.

Corbis, Getty

Reviewers spanning the theological spectrum have reacted with a curious level of hostility toward a writer who even by their own estimation is embracing a theory of the historical Jesus that has been around for a long time.  What’s going on? Aslan told me, “My faith background makes me suspect. Not just to the fringe, but to the Washington Post and the New York Times.”

That’s too bad. A Muslim writing an academic book about Jesus is groundbreaking. It should be welcomed. You don’t have to agree with his conclusions about Jesus – I don’t – to hold this view.

My friend, the Rev. Matthew Anderson – who has worked in Christian-Muslim relations in Egypt and is currently a doctoral student in the field at Georgetown University – told me, “While I don’t affirm Aslan’s conclusions, from the perspective of inter-religious dialogue, his book can be interpreted as a positive development. In the field of Christian-Muslim dialogue there has been a shortage of serious academic scholarship on the historical Jesus or the New Testament generally written by Muslims. Perhaps the book is a sign that things are changing."

Aslan concurs. “About 90 percent of the scholarly historical study of Islam is written by Christians or Jews,” he told me. “Very few scholars of religion who are Muslim write about Christianity.”
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