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Origins, future of Islam topic for panel discussion, lecture at BYU Oct. 31, Nov. 2

“No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam” by Reza Aslan is David M. Kennedy Center Book of the Semester

Brigham Young University’s David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies has chosen “No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam” as its fall 2007 Book of the Semester.

A panel discussion about the book will be held at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 31, in 238 Herald R. Clark Building. The panel will include members of the BYU history, Islamic studies and anthropology faculty.

On Friday, Nov. 2, the book’s author, Reza Aslan, will present a lecture titled “Revolution, Reformation, and Regime Change: Contemporary Iran” at 3 p.m. in the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium. Following the lecture, there will be a question-and-answer session at the David M. Kennedy Center where students can meet the author, discuss the lecture and have books signed.

The public is welcome to attend both events. Admission is free.

Aslan is an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions as well as a regular commentator for National Public Radio’s “Marketplace” and a Middle East Analyst for CBS News. “No god but God” is his first book and has been translated into half a dozen languages. It was also short-listed for the United Kingdom’s Guardian First Book Award and nominated for a PEN USA award for research nonfiction.

Born in Iran, Aslan now lives in Santa Monica, CA, where he is a research associate at the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, the Guardian, the Chicago Tribune and The Nation, among others.

Aslan received a bachelor’s degree in religion from Santa Clara University, a master’s degree in theological studies from Harvard University, a master’s degree in fiction from the University of Iowa and is a doctoral candidate in the sociology of religions at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

His lecture will be archived online. For more information on David M. Kennedy Center events, see the calendar online at kennedy.byu.edu.

Writer: Marissa Ballantyne

aslan.jpg
Photo by Jeffrey Durrant

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