Fox, Islam, Jesus ... Fail.

[Songbird]

This is going around the social media the last few days.

Fox anchor interviews Reza Aslan, professor and scholar of religions with multiple degrees, who has written a book about Jesus. He was a Christian but converted back to Islam. Fox anchor won't let go of that little fact. Her entire speel is "But you're a dirty Muslim so why are you writing about the Lord Jesus Christ?"

Eventually she analogizes that it would be like a lifelong Democrat writing an in-depth book about Ronald Reagan, to which he offers a pretty strong comeback.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/is-this-the-most-embarrassing-interview-fox-news-has-ever-do

 

[Bob Cook]

Mr. Obvious says, in journalistic endeavors you often report and write about stuff that might be outside your personal experience.

 

[YankeeFan]

This is going around the social media the last few days.

Fox anchor interviews Reza Aslan, professor and scholar of religions with multiple degrees, who has written a book about Jesus. He was a Christian but converted back to Islam. Fox anchor won't let go of that little fact. Her entire speel is "But you're a dirty Muslim so why are you writing about the Lord Jesus Christ?"

Eventually she analogizes that it would be like a lifelong Democrat writing an in-depth book about Ronald Reagan, to which he offers a pretty strong comeback.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/is-this-the-most-embarrassing-interview-fox-news-has-ever-do

The one criticism I saw was that, despite all his degrees, and his studies, the book doesn't break any new ground. The Jesus he presents is Koranic version of Jesus.

Though, in this interview, he says his book overturns Islamic interpretations of Jesus as well.

For example, he says that Jesus was surely crucified, while Islamic tradition does not say this.

The interview is, obviously, terrible.

 

[Songbird]

YF, maybe I missed it (re: you saying it's the Koranic version of Jesus) but Aslan said he used 1,000 (plus) books on top of other scholarly information to reach any conclusions.

 

[YankeeFan]

YF, maybe I missed it (re: you saying it's the Koranic version of Jesus) but Aslan said he used 1,000 (plus) books on top of other scholarly information to reach any conclusions.

I don't know enough about the book -- or even the traditional Islamic/Koranic version of Jesus -- but that is the criticism I saw/read.

That, while he's a religious scholar, the Jesus he presents is remarkably similar to the Jesus of Koranic tradition -- a version that has been out there for 1400 years.

Now, if the book says Jesus was crucified, then that alone is a big departure, so maybe the criticism is baseless.

 

[Bob Cook]

YF, maybe I missed it (re: you saying it's the Koranic version of Jesus) but Aslan said he used 1,000 (plus) books on top of other scholarly information to reach any conclusions.

I don't know enough about the book -- or even the traditional Islamic/Koranic version of Jesus -- but that is the criticism I saw/read.

That, while he's a religious scholar, the Jesus he presents is remarkably similar to the Jesus of Koranic tradition -- a version that has been out there for 1400 years.

Now, if the book says Jesus was crucified, then that alone is a big departure, so maybe the criticism is baseless.

It's fair to ask about criticisms regarding the book, and the scholarly research that went into it. But the interview went from the conceit that a Muslim just shouldn't be doing this at all. People of one religion do studies of other religions all the time. It's just that Fox News has to keep beating the Muslim-hating drum in a lazy interview like this.

 

[YankeeFan]

YF, maybe I missed it (re: you saying it's the Koranic version of Jesus) but Aslan said he used 1,000 (plus) books on top of other scholarly information to reach any conclusions.

I don't know enough about the book -- or even the traditional Islamic/Koranic version of Jesus -- but that is the criticism I saw/read.

That, while he's a religious scholar, the Jesus he presents is remarkably similar to the Jesus of Koranic tradition -- a version that has been out there for 1400 years.

Now, if the book says Jesus was crucified, then that alone is a big departure, so maybe the criticism is baseless.

It's fair to ask about criticisms regarding the book, and the scholarly research that went into it. But the interview went from the conceit that a Muslim just shouldn't be doing this at all. People of one religion do studies of other religions all the time. It's just that Fox News has to keep beating the Muslim-hating drum in a lazy interview like this.

Oh yeah. The interview was terrible. She seemed singularly focused on this one issue.

And, she tried the whole, "others are saying," bull****, as if she had no issue with him, his religion, or his book. She was just giving him a chance to refute "other" critics. I ****ing hate that.

 

[Boom_70]

"God, Country, Fox". A core tenant of living for flyover country.

 

[Starman]

Nothing else should be expected from the fascist flagship.

Nice tits on the anchor-babe, which is really all that counts anyway. After all, how else could she get her job?

 

[Songbird]

No. 1 on Amazon with 141 5-star reviews.

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/reza-aslan-hits-no-1-after-fox-news-interview_b74956

It may have been an awful performance by the interviewer and yet the whole time I was thinking she's doing exactly what the author probably needed her to do in a situation like this. That doesn't necessarily mean the interview is the reason *why* the book is No. 1 but its controversial tone, which led to SM-sharing galore certainly helped. Probably. I think. Or maybe not. Who knows.

No. 1.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Nothing else should be expected from the fascist flagship.

Nice tits on the anchor-babe, which is really all that counts anyway. After all, how else could she get her job?

And now I have to click on the link.

Edit ... meh. Nothing special.

 

[Mark2010]

Nothing else should be expected from the fascist flagship.

Nice tits on the anchor-babe, which is really all that counts anyway. After all, how else could she get her job?

Why is it all the hot news babes wind up at Fox?

 

[YankeeFan]

It looks like this claim -- which was also the subject of his senior thesis all the way back in 1995 -- is the one that has people most worked up:

I wouldn't call myself a Christian because I do not believe that Jesus is God, nor do I believe that he ever thought that he was God, or that he ever said that he was God.

http://m.npr.org/news/Books/200844275

Most Christians would say that is factually wrong.

What do the resident Bible scholars say?

 

[Songbird]

She was Miss Minnesota in '84, finished 3rd in Miss America '85.

Wiki: Green was born to Robert and Bessie Grissam Green. She has two sisters named Barbara and Lois and two brothers named Leslie and Kenneth.[1] She won the Miss Minnesota beauty pageant in 1984, and was third runner-up in the Miss America 1985 pageant. (Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson was also a Miss Minnesota winner, and also won the Miss America title in 1989.)

 

[DanOregon]

I'm Catholic. He's the son of God.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c2a2.htm

Don't know about other denominations, but Catholics have the largest membership.

 

[Bob Cook]

It is, in fact, true in the Bible that Jesus never outright said, "I am the Son of God." Many others called him that, and this evangelical-looking site explains why Jesus never says it.

https://bible.org/question/does-jesus-fact-say-he-god%E2%80%99s-son-not-just-infer-it

Why, you might ask, does Jesus not say so plainly. I think the answer is found in Matthew 16:15-17:

15 He said to them, “And who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!” (Matthew 16:15-17).

Jesus did not want Peter and His disciples to believe He was the Son of God just because He said so. He wanted God to bring them to this conclusion, based upon the overwhelming evidence of Scripture and our Lord’s life and teaching.

That would seem to be at odds with Aslan's claim that Jesus never thought he was God. Although, if you want to parse this right, indeed, Jesus never said he was God -- he was the Son of God. That was different, because he was human, unlike God.

In the interview you posted, Aslan has some interesting things to say about the context of when the Bible was written -- after the Romans were first thrown out of the Holy Land (an event 30 years after Jesus' death), and after the Romans came back a few years later to burn Jerusalem to the ground. The argument from the likes of Aslan is that the Romans' return has a lot to do with the mindset behind the way the New Testament was written.

 

[Bob Cook]

Speaking of sons of God, is Reza Aslan the son of the lion in C.S. Lewis' Narnia series?

 

[YankeeFan]

Jesus did not want Peter and His disciples to believe He was the Son of God just because He said so. He wanted God to bring them to this conclusion, based upon the overwhelming evidence of Scripture and our Lord’s life and teaching.

I think this is right, especially since he needed them to go out and preach the Good News.

Aslan's theory is the "Messianic Secret" and his senior thesis was titled “The Messianic Secret in the Gospel of Mark”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messianic_Secret

The passage I've seen people refer to in dispute of this theory is this one:

Mark 14:61-64

New International Version (NIV)

61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

63 The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. 64 “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”

They all condemned him as worthy of death.

 

[Songbird]

A young reporter by the name of Lauren Green and truth thru Christianity:

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/07/29/fox-reporter-lauren-greens-double-standard-on-r/195114

 

[Starman]

A young reporter by the name of Lauren Green and truth thru Christianity:

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/07/29/fox-reporter-lauren-greens-double-standard-on-r/195114

Mmmm-Hmmmmm.