Lesley Hazleton (born 1945) is a British-American author whose work focuses on the intersection and interactions between politics and religion.

Biography and career

Hazleton has reported from Jerusalem for Time, and has written on the Middle East for numerous publications including The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Harper's, The Nation, and The New Republic.[1]

Born in England, she was based in Jerusalem from 1966 to 1979 and in New York City from 1979 to 1992, when she moved to a floating home in Seattle, originally to get her pilot's license, and became a U.S. citizen. She has two degrees in psychology (B.A. Manchester University, M.A. Hebrew University of Jerusalem).[2]

Hazleton has described herself as "a Jew who once seriously considered becoming a rabbi, a former convent schoolgirl who daydreamed about being a nun, an agnostic with a deep sense of religious mystery though no affinity for organized religion".[3] "Everything is paradox," she has said. "The danger is one-dimensional thinking".[4]

In April 2010, she launched The Accidental Theologist,[5] a blog casting "an agnostic eye on religion, politics, and existence."[6] In September 2011, she received The Stranger's Genius Award in Literature [7] and in fall 2012, she was the Inaugural Scholar-in-Residence at Town Hall Seattle.[8]

Her latest book, Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto, a Publishers Weekly most-anticipated book of spring 2016,[9][10] was praised by The New York Times as "vital and mischievous" and as "wide-ranging... yet intimately grounded in our human, day-to-day life."[11]

TED talks

TEDGlobal 2013: The Doubt Essential to Faith. Thumbnail: "When Lesley Hazleton was writing a biography of Prophet Muhammad, she was struck by something: The night he received the revelation of the Koran, according to early accounts, his first reaction was doubt, awe, even fear. And yet this experience became the bedrock of his belief. Hazleton calls for a new appreciation of doubt and questioning as the foundation of faith — and an end to fundamentalism of all kinds."[12]

TEDxRainier 2010: On Reading the Koran. Thumbnail: "Lesley Hazleton sat down one day to read the Qur'an. And what she found — as a non-Muslim, a self-identified "tourist" in the Islamic holy book — wasn't what she expected. With serious scholarship and warm humor, Hazleton shares the grace, flexibility and mystery she found, in this myth-debunking talk."[13]

TEDSummit 2016: "What we talk about when we talk about soul."

TEDxSeattle: "What's wrong with dying?"[14]

Books

On religion and politics:

  • Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto [15] 2016 (New York Times Editors' Choice)
  • The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad (2013) [16] (New York Times Editors' Choice)
  • After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Hero Split (2009) [17] (Finalist: 2010 PEN-USA book award.)[18]
  • Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen (2007) [19] (Finalist: 2008 Washington Book Award.)[20]
  • Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography(2008) [21] (Winner: 2005 Washington Book Award.)[22]
  • Jerusalem, Jerusalem: A Memoir of War and Peace, Passion and Politics [23] (Winner: 1987 American Jewish Committee/Present Tense Book Award).[24]
  • Where Mountains Roar: a Personal Report from the Sinai [25]
  • Israeli Women: The Reality Behind the Myths [26]

Her other books include:

  • England, Bloody England: An Expatriate's Return [27]
  • Confessions of a Fast Woman (1986) [28]
  • Driving to Detroit: An Automotive Odyssey [29]

References

  1. "The first Muslim". ww38.thefirstmuslim.com. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  2. "About the author." 'After the Prophet.' 2009.<http://www.aftertheprophet.com Archived December 17, 2021, at the Wayback Machine>
  3. Seattle Times 10/26/07
  4. Publishers Weekly 5/21/07
  5. Hazleton, Lesley. "The Accidental Theologist". Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  6. The Accidental Theologist/Who Is the AT?<http://accidentaltheologist.com/about/>
  7. Constant, Paul. "Lesley Hazleton". The Stranger.
  8. "Search for "Lesley hazleton "". Town Hall Seattle.
  9. "The Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2016". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  10. "Religion Book Review: Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto by Lesley Hazleton. Riverhead, $25.95 (224p) ISBN 978-1-59463-413-0". April 5, 2016.
  11. Wilensky-Lanford, Brook (July 15, 2016). "Religion". The New York Times.
  12. "The doubt essential to faith". Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  13. "On reading the Koran". Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  14. "What's wrong with dying?". TEDxSeattle. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
  15. "Agnostic by Lesley Hazleton | PenguinRandomHouse.com". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  16. Nonfiction Book Review: The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad by Lesley Hazleton. Riverhead. 2013. ISBN 978-1-59448-728-6.
  17. Hazleton, Lesley (2009). After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split. Doubleday. pp. 256. ISBN 978-0-385-52393-6.
  18. PEN-USA<http://www.penusa.org/node/149 Archived May 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine>
  19. Hazleton, Lesley (2007). Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen. Doubleday. pp. 272. ISBN 978-0-385-51614-3.
  20. Seattle Public Library<"The Seattle Public Library: Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library". Archived from the original on September 13, 2010. Retrieved October 21, 2010.>
  21. Hazleton, Lesley (2004). Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother. Bloomsbury. pp. 256. ISBN 978-1-58234-236-8.
  22. Seattle Public Library<"The Seattle Public Library: Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library". Archived from the original on September 13, 2010. Retrieved October 21, 2010.>
  23. Hazleton, Lesley (1986). Jerusalem, Jerusalem: A Memoir of War and Peace, Passion and Politics. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 256. ISBN 978-0-14-010244-4.
  24. "Awards for Books With Jewish Themes". The New York Times. March 11, 1987. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  25. Hazleton, Lesley (1980). Where Mountains Roar: a Personal Report from the Sinai. Holt Rinehart and Winston. pp. 223. ISBN 978-0-03-045321-2.
  26. Hazleton, Lesley (1979). Israeli Women: The Reality Behind the Myths. Simon and Schuster. pp. 235. ISBN 978-0-671-22531-5.
  27. Hazleton, Lesley (1990). England, Bloody England: An Expatriate's Return. Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. 205. ISBN 978-0-87113-329-8.
  28. Hazleton, Lesley (1990). Confessions of a Fast Woman. Addison Wesley Publishing Company. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-201-63204-0.
  29. Hazleton, Lesley (1998). Driving to Detroit : An Automotive Odyssey. Free Press. pp. 320. ISBN 978-0-684-83987-5.
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