A student review of Reza Aslan’s “Religion and Politics in the Middle East” class at Drew University.

In this week’s update, President & CEO David Lavin talks about his tour of Neri Oxman’s MIT Media Lab, and welcomes Reza Aslan and Jessica Jackley to New York City.

Here’s a preview of Reza Aslan (founder of Aslan Media) and Jessica Jackley’s (co-founder of KIVA) new talk, The Promise and Perils of Social Media:

Reza Aslan and Jessica Jackley know all about the social web’s remarkable ability to build communities and incite social change. As the founder of Aslan Media, which is altering perceptions of the Arab world through traditional and online entertainment, Aslan has traced the impact of social media in the Middle East. As the co-founder of KIVA, the world’s largest microlending website, Jackley has harnessed the power of one-to-one relationships to triumph over bureaucratic lending models. Together, this husband and wife team explains how social media has irrevocably changed the world, and explores the future of online collaboration. How has social media gone from simple news gathering to revolutionizing the concept of community? What changes must our institutions make—from government to business to education—in order to catch up to our new web-based society? And what can an individual do to ensure that social media reaches its full potential as a force for global change?

In light of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Random House is re-releasing Reza Aslan’s No god but God, which the Los Angeles Times Book Review calls an “eloquent, erudite paean to Islam in all of its complicated glory.”

From the publisher:

In No god but God, internationally acclaimed scholar Reza Aslan explains Islam—the origins and evolution of the faith—in all its beauty and complexity. This updated edition addresses the events of the past decade, analyzing how they have influenced Islam’s position in modern culture. Aslan explores what the popular demonstrations pushing for democracy in the Middle East mean for the future of Islam in the region, how the Internet and social media have affected Islam’s evolution, and how the war on terror has altered the geopolitical balance of power in the Middle East. He also provides an update on the contemporary Muslim women’s movement, a discussion of the controversy over veiling in Europe, an in-depth history of Jihadism, and a look at how Muslims living in North America and Europe are changing the face of Islam. Timely and persuasive, No god but God is an elegantly written account that explains this magnificent yet misunderstood faith.

The tragic events in Oslo, Norway last week have brought renewed attention to the concept of Christian fundamentalist terrorism and the dangers of Europe’s Islamophobia. Resa Aslan’s second book, Beyond Fundamentalism (titled How to Win a Cosmic War in hard cover), looks, with great clarity and level-headed analysis, at these pressing topics as well as many others. In this video, taken from a C-Span interview a year ago, Reza talks about the book and how the language of religion has become fused with the language of our conflicts.

We love getting new books from our speakers here at Lavin. This week, we saw the arrival of Know the Past, Find the Future, a book on the New York Public Library’s 100 year anniversary. It features work from our speakers Kwame Anthony Appiah, Reza Aslan, and Colum McCann. Flanking it are David Eagleman’s neuroscience mind-bender, Incognito and John Elder Robinson’s collection of personal stories illustrating autistic thinking, Be Different.

Just in: Middle East expert Reza Aslan’s TEDxConejo talk on unity in diversity gives you a glimpse into life as an Iranian-American. Aslan eloquently illustrates how Americans have always shared a common narrative, but he notes that attitudes have changed since September 11th, 2001. Today, nearly ten years after 9/11, anti-Muslim sentiment is actually higher than ever. How to reverse this tide of ill feelings? Social interaction and stories, specifically storytelling, can help us bridge any perceived differences, Aslan says. As he puts it, “Knowledge doesn’t change minds. Relationships change minds.”

On May 31st, Middle East expert Reza Aslan will speak at “The World’s Shortest Conference on Islam Ever.” Aslan is one of 60 speakers who will each deliver a 60 second talk, culminating in 60 insightful minutes on The Future of Islam in the Age of New Media. Check out all the speakers and sign up for this unique audio online conference, here.

Some key questions the presenters will address include:

• In what ways is the Internet affecting Muslim societies and culture?

• How are young internet-savvy Muslims changing the image of Islam in the West?

• What is the future of internet freedom and censorship in Muslim-majority countries?

• And last but not least, what is the future of Islam in the age of new media?