'Christianity Today' Has a New Take on Jesus' Ethnicity, and Internet Erupts

We're suddenly seeing a lot of hot takes about Jesus for Christmas, with many of those takes seemingly trying to make him "Palestinian." This seems in reaction to the Israel-Hamas war and mostly coming from the left to try to culturally appropriate Jesus to fit their political agenda. You even had people who were clergy spouting this stuff, along with a bunch of other things showing they lacked understanding around the Christmas story of Jesus.

You even had a priest claiming Jesus was a "Palestinian Jew."

But the take from Christianity Today posted to X on Christmas Eve had a lot of people reacting as again there seemed to be another take trying to make Jesus something other than what he was -- a Jew from Judea.

Jesus was born in Asia. He was Asian.

The artists in this photo essay bring him back to Asia—but not to ancient Israel.

These nine artworks "proclaim the expansiveness of Christ’s kingdom." https://t.co/qGmeOo79Ak
— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) December 24, 2023

“Jesus was born in Asia. He was Asian. The artists in this photo essay bring him back to Asia—but not to ancient Israel. These nine artworks "proclaim the expansiveness of Christ’s kingdom,'” the outlet shared.

The author Victoria Emily Jones said in the article that “by representing Jesus as Japanese, Indonesian, or Indian," artists wanted to convey the universality of Jesus for their own communities.

I get the artistic interpretation and the universality point of the artists. And also geographically, yes technically, the continent is Asia, although we generally don't think about it like that today, we think of the Middle East as a distinct area. But that's different from suggesting he was, in fact, Asian in the sense of being Japanese, Indonesian, or Indian.

Once again seems to be trying to move him away from being a Middle Eastern Jew.

The claim that he was Asian got a lot of reaction from people. Some noted mockingly that perhaps we should call him "Roman" or Italian since he was born in the Roman Empire.

We couldn't write satire this good at @TheBabylonBee https://t.co/SZxvN8GSLq
— Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) December 24, 2023

I’m sure this blatant attempt to erase Jesus Christ’s Jewish heritage has NOTHING to do with today’s geopolitical affairs. I’m SURE this is just innocent. 🙄 Jesus is a middle eastern Jew. We know where the Middle East is but you’re trying to be slick. https://t.co/G2NvL5ywh8 https://t.co/bwXBv0QWpK
— Darvio Morrow (@DTheKingpin) December 25, 2023

Senior pastor of Western Ave Baptist Church Ekkie Tepsupornchai also responded to the article writing, “I am Asian. Jesus was not. Nevertheless, Jesus is my Lord. And His sacrifice granted me the right to become a child of God. That is all that matters to me.”

That's also a great point to make in today's game of identity politics. It's important to acknowledge that Jesus was a Jew and where he was born was important because he was born into the House of David. But, regardless of origin, he was born for and died for everyone.