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Originally Posted by Gouge
I think you guys missed the point of the interview and what Lauren Green was after while doing the interview.
For starters, he does not have a PhD in the history of religions. Aslan has four degrees: a Bachelors of Religious Studies from Santa Clara University; a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School; a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa; and a PhD in sociology of religions from the University of California, Santa Barbara (his dissertation was on ?Global Jihadism: a transnational social movement.
Aslan also claims that he has a degree in the New Testament. But is this true? Santa Clara doesn?t offer a degree in the New Testament so he can?t be talking about his Bachelors. Perhaps he is referring to the Master?s of Theological Studies degree he earned from Harvard Divinity School in 1999. That school does offer an ?area of focus? in ?New Testament and Early Christianity.? Is Aslan claiming this was his degree?s area of focus at Harvard? (If so, this would make his claim about having a ?degree in New Testament? misleading, at best.)
While this is a possibility, it raises the question of how ? armed with only a Master?s degree with a focus on the New Testament ? he became the first full-time professor of Islam in the history of the state of Iowa.
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I will say this after seeing in the video that he could very well be a pompous asshole, and he himself is putting too much emphasis on his education too - judging people's knowledge and expertise by what degree(s) they have has got to fucking go. That is the fucking downfall of our civilization, especially when most of us know that most colleges are a joke and even many constantly drunk partiers are able to get through it. Our presidents that people love to hate like Dubya had degrees from prestigious colleges. Abraham Lincoln didn't even have a degree and went to school for only about a year in his entire life. What difference does a piece of paper make to what someone actually knows or has expertise in?