Since everyone on the religious right has been blasting this book as an Islamic attempt to destroy Christianity (because the author is a Muslim) I just couldnt help but read it. If I was hoping for a vicious Religion vs. Religion Sucker Punch (yeah, maybe I was a little bit - I enjoy catfights) I was disappointed. Theres a reason why they say that taking a rigorous, scholarly historical approach to the New Testament is a recipe for creating atheists, but Aslan has used solid historic research to write one of the most pro-Jesus and pro-Christian books Ive read in this field, which makes the reaction from the religious right pretty amusing, when you think about it. Perhaps because hes a Muslim, Aslan takes faith very seriously, and he treats it with a lot of respect. Hes very careful to distinguish between things that can be verified historically, and things that must be taken on faith, and unlike most historians, he doesnt dismiss the faith aspect at all. When historic fact directly contradicts scripture, he makes the effort to examine why, and thats really the most interesting part of the book. Most historians are content to simply reveal contradictions as if that discredits the entire work. Aslan delves into the motivations behind these issues, and more often than not his conclusions support the early church. If youve studied this period in any kind of in-depth way before, theres probably nothing new here. Aslan is basically working with existing research, but he does a better job of weaving it all into a coherent narrative, creating a synthesis from both historic and theological study, than anything Ive read before. I highly recommend it. If your perspective is based on religious faith, I think youll come away with a much better understanding of the complex social and political issues that were at work behind the stories youre already familiar with. If youre a skeptic, I suspect youll develop a new appreciation for something you might have been dismissing entirely.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 21:54:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015