{"id":1281,"date":"2013-08-03T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-03T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/a-little-simple-perhaps-but-useful-on-the-reza-aslan-affair.html"},"modified":"2013-08-03T09:55:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-03T09:55:00","slug":"a-little-simple-perhaps-but-useful-on-the-reza-aslan-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/08\/a-little-simple-perhaps-but-useful-on-the-reza-aslan-affair.html","title":{"rendered":"A Little Simple, Perhaps, but Useful! On the Reza Aslan Affair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
First, an admission. While I have watched Fox News anchor Lauren Green\u2019s\u00a0interview with Reza Aslan<\/a>, I have not read\u00a0his book<\/a>\u00a0and likely will not. Based on the book\u2019s chapter headings, bibliography, indebtedness to N.T. Wright, James Dunn, and E. P. Sanders (all rather conservative and\/or theological historical Jesus scholars), the fact that it is part of the HarperCollins religion catalogue (not exactly known as a go-to publisher for books on ancient Christianity), and the fact that the hardcover is selling for $17.01 on Amazon.com leads me to believe that the book is probably not all that cutting edge and\u00a0probably not all that scholarly<\/a>. I can make this observation, however, because I have been a part of the academic study of religion for over ten years, and have read hundreds and hundreds of books and articles that examine the early years of the Jesus movement, as well as the historical Jesus. I am an extremely privileged observer here, noticing things that most outside of the academy would not.<\/span><\/div>\n
And it seems to me that, when Aslan conducts media interviews and sells a book for $17.01, I am not the intended reader. The intended readers are the people who saw Aslan on Fox News (or more likely on buzzfeed), and who\u00a0participated in his Q&A; on reddit this past Monday<\/a>. As such, I think criticisms regarding Aslan\u2019s qualifications\u2014his PhD is in sociology (because sociologists have never written\u00a0books on early Christianity<\/a>?), not the \u201chistory of religions\u201d\u00a0as he claims<\/a>\u2014as well as the ways in which he asserts his academic qualifications are somewhat less interesting than what Aslan is actually trying to do for the academic study of religion. This is not to say that we as scholars of religion should not critically engage with the many, MANY issues raised in and by the interview (see three provocative pieces by\u00a0Craig Martin<\/a>,\u00a0Russell McCutcheon<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Steven Ramey<\/a>), only that, in our efforts to be critical, we not overlook a crucial aspect of this interview: that millions of people saw it.<\/span><\/div>\n
In his Fox News interview, Aslan went to bat for the academic study of religion, asserting time and time again his\u00a0academic<\/i>\u00a0qualifications to discuss a subject that the interviewer thought his religious identity disqualified him from raising in the first place. He refused to let the interviewer\u2019s ignorance be equal to his training. Is this not an issue all academics, especially those of us studying religion, face all the time: friends, family, students, and strangers not recognizing the difference between a simple opinion on religion and an opinion formulated by and grounded in the type of historical critical research to which we have devoted most of our adult lives?<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, an admission. While I have watched Fox News anchor Lauren Green\u2019s\u00a0interview with Reza Aslan, I have not read\u00a0his book\u00a0and likely will not. Based on the book\u2019s chapter headings, bibliography, indebtedness to N.T. Wright, James Dunn, and E. P. Sanders (all rather conservative and\/or theological historical Jesus scholars), the fact that it is part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Little Simple, Perhaps, but Useful! On the Reza Aslan Affair<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First, an admission. 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