Reza Aslan

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Reza Aslan (2013)

Reza Aslan ( listen ? / I ; born May 3, 1972 in Tehran ) is an Iranian-American religious scholar who converted as a Muslim to evangelical Pentecostals and then turned back to Islam after studying Jesus. A graduate of the renowned Iowa Writers' Workshop , he now teaches creative writing at the University of California, Riverside . Aslan writes for The Daily Beast and is the author of the bestsellers No God But God: The Faith of Muslims from Muhammad to the Present and Zealot : The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth . In his book God: A Human History , published in 2017 , he traced his path from Christian to Muslim, from Sufi to pantheist, and in it propagated animism as an original worldview and pantheism as a desirable worldview. Audio file / audio sample

Life

Aslan's family left Iran in 1979 because his father, who had a degree in business administration, was generally very suspicious of religious people. After initially settling in Oklahoma , the family soon moved on to California . Aslan's mother was a Muslim, albeit without a particularly strong belief, and his father a staunch atheist. In his youth, Reza Aslan posed as a Mexican in social circles in order to be less exposed to hostility. After growing up with virtually no religion, he was introduced to Bible history at a youth camp at the age of 15, whereupon he discovered his spiritual self and decided to become a Pentecostal . He evangelized for several years in schools and camps. He was particularly successful with his mother, who also became evangelical, while his father thinks he is "crazy".

He first studied at the Jesuit Santa Clara University . There he noticed differences between the Jesus story in the Bible and the historical Jesus, which he considered incompatible. Then he turned away from Christianity again. Encouraged by a Jesuit pastor, he now dealt with Islam, which then took him under its spell. His mother stuck to her previous decision and said that her son must now “burn in hell for all eternity”. He later received his Masters from Harvard University . He received his PhD in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara .

Aslan has stated on several occasions that he has a doctorate in the history of religions or sociology of religions . At the University of California at Santa Barbara, which he attended, there are no such degrees; rather, he is given a doctorate in sociology. He also stated that he was a "cooperating faculty member" in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside , which was not confirmed. As a “cooperating faculty member”, he would have theoretically been able to do dissertations there.

In 2006 his book No God Except God was published , in which Aslan deals with Islam. The book became an international bestseller and was translated into thirteen languages.

In Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth from 2013, he deals historically with Jesus of Nazareth and various religious perspectives. Aslan's thesis that Jesus did not see himself as God met with strong rejection from some voices from the US American right. This was particularly evident in an interview on the television channel Fox News , in which he had to justify himself to the poorly prepared journalist Lauren Green. Aslan became better known through this interview, and his work rose from number four to number one on the bestseller list.

In 2017 he published another book, God: A Human History , which climbed the bestseller lists. In almost 300 pages he reported on the anthropomorphization of gods, which were ultimately reduced to one god.

Aslan is one of over 5,000 members of the Council on Foreign Relations (membership fees range from $ 500 to $ 900 per annum) and the Pacific Council on International Policy .

In NBC News' Meet the Press program of the Charlie Hebdo attack , Reza Aslan spoke on January 11, 2015 as the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), citing the radical Saudi ideology of Wahhabism as its origin the terrorist groups Boko Haram , Islamic State , al-Qaeda and the Taliban . Saudi Arabia has spent over $ 100 billion in the last 20-30 years to spread this ideology worldwide. Reza Aslan demanded that people should be held responsible for the actions of these extremist groups. The official CAIR report was that the brutal and cowardly attack on Charlie Hebdo must be condemned in the strictest terms. All attacks on freedom of expression are false, even speech that mocks religion or religious figures must be protected. The correct answer is not to marginalize one religion, but rather to marginalize extremists on all sides who want to divide society.

Private

Aslan has been married to Jessica Jackley, a Christian microcredit entrepreneur, since 2011 . They live in Los Angeles with their three sons.

criticism

Aslan's books received widespread attention, including his God: A Human History , published in 2017 . Rachel Newcomb praised his understandable writing style for the demanding and complex subject in the Washington Post . Its limitation to the Abrahamic religions is a shortcoming, although interesting facts can be found.

The renowned German Protestant theologian Friedrich Wilhelm Graf reviewed Aslan's book Gott - Eine Geschichte der Menschen in spring 2019 . He accused the author of a superficial, unobjective and tendentious course through the history of religions, and this despite a long list of literature. The pantheistic conclusions ( you are God ) are assertions that cannot be conclusively understood, but represent a personal choice of the author.

The German religious scholar Michael Blume criticized the one-sidedly masculine, arrogant way of looking at the same work. Essential questions that would have to be asked on such a demanding topic would be ignored. Newer, different voices about the development of beliefs and religions are largely ignored.

Fonts (selection)

  • No god but God: the faith of the Muslims from Muhammad to the present (original title: No god but God , translated by Rita Seuss). Piper, Munich / Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-492-25123-5 .
  • Zealot: Jesus of Nazareth and his time (original title: Zealot. The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth , translated by Henning Dedekind, Norbert Juraschitz, Thomas Pfeiffer and Karin Schuler). Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-498-00083-7 .
  • God. A story of people , Gütersloher Verlagshaus, October 2018, ISBN 978-3-579-08716-0

Web links

Commons : Reza Aslan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian Röther: US author Reza Aslan Prophet of Pantheism. Reza Aslan is a sought-after religion expert in the USA. His latest book "Gott" is now also available in German. In it Aslan traces the history of the human conception of God - and in the end becomes a kind of prophet himself. Deutschlandfunk, October 18, 2018
  2. ↑ a b c Manuel Roig-Franzia: Reza Aslan: A Jesus scholar who's hard to pin down , The Washington Post , August 8, 2013.
  3. ^ NPR - Christ in Context
  4. ^ John S. Dickerson: Liberal media love new Jesus book 'Zealot', fail to mention author is Muslim . Ed .: Foxnews. 2003.
  5. ↑ US broadcaster Fox News embarrasses itself with an interview about Jesus - Die Welt, July 30, 2013
  6. ↑ Rachel Newcomb: Book review of God: A Human History by Reza Aslan , The Washington Post, Nov. 17, 2017.
  7. ↑ http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-magazine-attack/extremism-virus-muslim-world-panel-n283981
  8. ↑ http://www.inquisitr.com/1746607/reza-aslan-links-saudi-arabia-to-recent-terrorist-attacks/
  9. ↑ http://rezaaslan.com/about/
  10. ↑ http://www.jessicajackley.com/about
  11. ↑ Rachel Newcomb: Book review of God: A Human History by Reza Aslan , The Washington Post, Nov. 17, 2017.
  12. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Graf: The most thoughtless book of faith of the year: Reza Aslan conducts religious history with missionary intent. Review in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 11, 2019
  13. ↑ Michael Blume: When Men Make Gods - "God" by Reza Aslan , Scilogs, March 3, 2019
  14. ↑ Can a Muslim do that? Review by Daniel Haufler in Frankfurter Rundschau on August 2, 2013
  15. ↑ Katharina Granzin: The Exorcist and his Interpreten , taz , March 1, 2014, p. 27
  16. ↑ Radio SRF 2, October 21, 2018, Focus on Religion
personal data
SURNAME Aslan, Reza
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iranian-American scholar of Islam and book author
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Tehran