OCU speaker series features anti-hate activist
Oklahoma City University will host a scholar known for his work to counteract white nationalist movements and Islamophobia.
Reza Aslan, an internationally renowned writer and religion scholar, will give a presentation titled “A World without Religion” at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at OCU's Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center, Blackwelder Avenue and NW 25. The event, which is free to the public, is part of the university's annual Martha Jean Lemon Distinguished Speaker Series.
Aslan's presentation will explore how religious identity has seemed to fade in western cultures, yet continues to fortify its political power elsewhere. He will give his interpretation of what may come next — will science and secularism prevail, or will religion remain a vital part of human identity?
Aslan wrote a No. 1 New York Times bestseller titled “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” and the more recent “God: A Human History,” a book on the history of the divine. He is also a consulting producer for the HBO series “The Leftovers” and the CBS comedy “United States of Al.” Aslan's degrees include a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard University, a Ph.D. in sociology of religions from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master of fine arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction.
Aslan is a tenured creative writing professor at the University of California, Riverside, and serves on the board of trustees for the Chicago Theological Seminary and The Yale Humanist Community.
For more information about the presentation, call 405-208-5446 or go to www.okcu.edu/artsci/enrichment.