Is Reza Aslan a reliable source of information when it comes to questions of theology?

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I’ve read his book, Zealot, and at the time thought it was well-researched and informative. It raised some interesting questions about Jesus coming from a historical perspective. However sadly, the information he uses is only historical. And he picks and chooses his sources. In particular, he does not use the biggest and most relevant historical source for Jesus, the New Testament.

Since reading his book and becoming more interested in the life and times of Jesus, the picture Reza painted is less and less relevant. It turns out that if you want to understand Christianity, particularly early Christianity, the best resources you can turn to are modern Christian scholars.

Given the hatchet job he did on Jesus, I can only surmise that his Islamic theology isn’t going to be all that much better. It struck me that his book on Jesus attributed facets to Jesus that were lionized in early Islam. He’s entertaining and well-written, but you need more than that to speak convincingly authoritatively on subjects of religion, faith, and theology.

I did rather enjoy the smackdown he gave Fox News: