Jesus in Asia

RS Sugirtharajah

Reconstructions of Jesus were circulating in parts of Asia long before the Western search for Jesus as a historical figure began in earnest. According to Sugirtharajah, in seventh-century China and seventeenth-century India, Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Catholics and members of the Church of the East were among the groups engaging with Jesus as a figure, but during the age of European colonialism he was viewed by Asians as a tribal god of white Europeans. Asians have since reinterpreted Jesus and Christianity both appreciatively and critically.

Penguin Random House India, 320 pages, Rs 699