{"id":8823,"date":"2024-01-03T13:54:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T18:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=8823"},"modified":"2024-01-03T14:06:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T19:06:55","slug":"christianity-today-mocked-for-claiming-jesus-was-asian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/01\/christianity-today-mocked-for-claiming-jesus-was-asian.html","title":{"rendered":"‘Christianity Today’ Mocked For Claiming Jesus Was Asian"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Collection of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Christianity Today” (CT)<\/em> is facing backlash after it featured<\/a> the claim that Jesus was Asian. \u201cJesus was born in Asia. He was Asian,\u201d the article opens. \u201cYet the preponderance of Christian art that shows him at home in Europe has meant that he is embedded deeply in the popular imagination as Western.\u201d The article featured art depicting Jesus in Asian culture. \u201cSome may object to depicting Jesus as anything other than a brown male born into a Jewish family in Bethlehem of Judea in the first century, believing that doing so undermines his historicity. But Christian artists who tackle the subject of the Incarnation are often aiming not at historical realism but at theological meaning,\u201d the article went on. \u201cBy representing Jesus as Japanese, Indonesian, or Indian, they convey a sense of God\u2019s immanence, his \u2018with-us\u2013ness,\u2019 for their own communities\u2014and for everyone else, the universality of Christ\u2019s birth.\u201d<\/p>\n

“CT” shared the article to X<\/a>, where it faced immediate criticism. \u201cBlasphemy,\u201d wrote conservative Christian blogger Samuel Sey. \u201cJesus is a Jew. It\u2019s necessary for our salvation that he is a son of David, from the tribe of Judah, and born in Bethlehem. Stop this nonsense. He isn\u2019t European, Asian, Palestinian or black. He\u2019s a Jew\u2014the king of the Jews and therefore the saviour of the world.\u201d Franklin Graham also called out the magazine. \u201c@CTmagazine is being criticized for their article about artists depicting Jesus as Asian\u2014and I also have to ask why they would publish something so far off base,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to wonder or speculate about this\u2014the Bible gives us very specific details about Jesus\u2019 earthly lineage and where He was born and grew up. We know that Jesus was Jewish. However, if you don\u2019t believe the Bible or accept it as the Word of God, then everything is in question. Guess what\u2014we don\u2019t get to make God in our own image. He is Who He is!\u201d<\/p>\n

“Christianity Today” has faced a number of criticisms throughout the year. In August, it featured an article entitled \u201cBarbie and Taylor Swift Are Bringing Us Together<\/a>.\u201d The article included the tagline \u201cBeyond hot pink and bejeweled outfits, they showcase a deeper desire for community and collective joy.\u201d According to the article, Swift\u2019s Eras Tour is reminiscent of a church gathering. \u201cSwift, too, invites her fans into her own embodied life as she sings unabashedly of emotion and relationship and loss\u2026 And that’s what church is. It’s life in the body together, the people gathered around the one who is the truth, who gives life meaning, who knows our embodied longings because he took on flesh for our sake. The kids want communal meaning. So I’m going to keep hoping \u2014 hoping that, maybe, what they want is the body of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

More recently, the magazine is facing backlash for resharing an article about gendered language<\/a>. \u201cWhen it comes to gendered language, these Christian leaders agree on three things: Everything is changing so fast. We\u2019re figuring it out together. And we should give each other grace,\u201d the post said. Megan Basham, reporter for The Daily Wire<\/em>, responded<\/a>, \u201cAs usual, you miss that the word of God, which tells us \u201cmale and female be created them\u201d and \u2018thou shalt not lie\u2019 is not changing. Faithfulness doesn\u2019t have to be as hard as you try to make it.\u201d The article is from August and features the title \u201cShould I Offer my Pronouns<\/a>?\u201d \u201c\u2018When it comes to bowing down to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, everything is, like, changing so fast. Let’s all just figure it out together and give each other grace, man.\u2019 – Shadrach to Meschach and Abednego, paraphrased,\u201d mocked<\/a> Babylon Bee <\/em>editor-in-chief Kyle Mann. \u201cCan you please change your name to \u2018Today\u2019s Agnostic\u2019\u201d wrote<\/a> another commentor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Christianity Today” (CT) is facing backlash after it featured the claim that Jesus was Asian. \u201cJesus was born in Asia. He was Asian,\u201d the article opens. \u201cYet the preponderance of Christian art that shows him at home in Europe has meant that he is embedded deeply in the popular imagination as Western.\u201d The article featured…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":8829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n'Christianity Today' Mocked For Claiming Jesus Was Asian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christianity Today is facing backlash after it featured the claim that Jesus was Asian.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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