Why Reza Aslan is Interested in Jesus

Fox News has really outdone itself this time, if that is even possible anymore. In a move that recalls the worst of McCarthy era Communist paranoia, anchor Lauren Green completely embarrassed herself and her network last Friday by interrogating religious scholar Reza Aslan as to why on Earth a Muslim might want to write a book about Jesus (referring to Aslan’s new book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth).  

That’s right – Aslan, who holds four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and is a scholar of biblical Greek may very well be, Green believes, attempting insidiously to undermine the very foundations of Christianity and to corrupt God-fearing Christians everywhere. In response to Green’s staggering display of ignorance (or strategic incredulity), Aslan calmly explained that studying religion is, um, what religious scholars do. 

This seems a good moment to revisit our 2008 interview with Aslan, in which he discussed the religious impulse throughout human history, and what has led him to devote his life to studying and writing about it. 

And, in case you missed it, here is that excruciating Fox News interview:

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