Those of orthodox (small “o”) Christian faith should expect to be taken aback by R.S. Sugirtharajah's Jesus in Asia, a book that has just been published by Harvard University Press. But such readers who would put aside their surprise may well find the book's depictions of Jesus over the centuries in various Asian countries fascinating—or at least entertaining, like a visit to a museum might be.
In his introduction, Sugirtharajah, Emeritus Professor of Biblical Hermeneutics in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, laments that the study of Asian depictions of Jesus has been ignored in Western seminaries or, at most, confined to coursework in church history or mission studies rather than Christology. The same orthodox Christians who might find this book unnerving could easily inform him why this is. They would very likely inform him that they find these depictions of the Jesus of the Gospels heretical.
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