195 Quotes by Reza Aslan

Islamophobia has become so mainstream in this country that Americans have been trained to expect violence against Muslims – not excuse it, but expect it. And that’s happened because you have an Islamophobia industry in this country devoted to making Americans think there’s an enemy within.

My hope with this book is to spread the good news of the Jesus of history with the same fervor that I once applied to spreading the story of the Christ.

Egyptians believed that the Pharaoh would be resurrected, but they did not accept the resurrection of the mases.

Luke would have had no idea what we in the modern world even mean when we say the word “history.” The notion of history as a critical analysis of observable and verifiable events in the past is a product of the modern age; it would have been an altogether foreign concept to the gospel writers for whom history was not a matter of uncovering facts, but of revealing truths.

Herod was not just the emperor’s client-king. He was a close and personal friend, a loyal citizen of the Republic who wanted more than to emulate Rome; he wanted to remake it in the sands of Judea. He instituted a forced Hellenization program upon the Jews, bringing gymnasia, Greek amphitheaters, and Roman baths to Jerusalem. He made Greek the language of his court and minted coins bearing Greek letters and paga.

It could be known only through six divine “evocations” that it brought forth into the world from its own being: wisdom, truth, power, love, unity, and immortality. These are not so much Ahura Mazda’s attributes as they are the six substances that make up its essence.

A politician is a politician whether he’s wearing a suit or a funny hat.

How could the Law of Retribution function properly when one party in a dispute was so wealthy and so powerful as to be virtually untouchable?

Is it possible that Jesus, unlike 98 percent of his fellow Jews, was literate and educated? Yes, it’s possible.