DR. Ali Parsa was born in Tehran, Iran, Ali Parsa came to the US to study and earned two bachelor degrees in architecture and philosophy at the University of Kansas, then received two masters at UCLA in history and Islamic studies, followed by a Ph.D. in history focusing on history of religions and philosophy of history. He has been teaching world history, comparative religion, humanities, philosophy of religion, and gender and religion at universities and colleges in California since 1998. He also holds a license to practice architecture in the state of California.
As a young man Parsa returned to Iran in 1979 to join the revolution against the shah, and though he had to escape back to the US after Khomeini came to power, he continued his political activities against the Iranian regime to promote religious freedom, equality, and women’s rights.
Dr. Parsa seeks ways for people to appreciate different points of view that go beyond political correctness. To that end, he calls for the implementation of paradigm shifts in physics—quantum, relativity, new cosmology—to shape a reinterpretation of human history in a positive way, which in turn can be applied to religious texts leading to a more unifying ethic and human value, despite cultural differences.
His last book, The Mind of the Historian: Causation in Philosophy of History, which reveals unavoidable biases of historians, is used in graduate-level classes in historiography. His most recent book, World History: A Concise, Selective, Interpretive History of the world, is now being used in undergraduate classes in world history. He has published numerous article on Islam and present political situation in the Middle East.