Great post and the point made in your post is ever so true. The Church of the Annunciation in Israel is filled with paintings, frescoes, and icons donated by Christians from Asia, Africa, Europe, the U.S - all over the world. Images of Jesus with his Mother Mary depict a mother and child with darker skin and differently shaped eyes, representing Jesus in their own indigenous cultures. Here's one depicting a Chinese baby Jesus with his mother Mary. The various non-white depictions of Jesus aren't striving for historical accuracy as it has been pointed out no one knows what he looked like, other than he was a male from the middle east. He likely looked very much like native middle eastern men look today. The Asian Jesus, the African Jesus, the native American Jesus remind us Jesus is for all people. The images are representational of a Jesus freed from the legacy of white supremacy. Theologian Robin Whitaker wrote, “If God is always imaged as white, then the default human becomes white and such thinking undergirds racism.” Here are a few artist renderings of a representational Jesus as seen through the eyes of a non European culture. An Ethiopian Jesus washing the feet of a disciple ~ A Chinese Jesus doing the same ~ A Jesus of the Lakota tribe ~ A Jesus from a Maasai tribe ~ A Jamaican Jesus ~ And a Polynesian Jesus seated in a Polynesian prayer posture with a stream of living water flowing from his heart.
Thank you to those who came to my defense, but @flgator2 was right. The last sentence of my reply to him was gratuitous, a cheap shot, and for that I apologize.
Amen, Amen. Love the various photographs. It really does capture. When I used to go to DC regularly I would always make a pilgrimage to The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The massive Church has 82 separate Marian Chapels inside with many similar images of the Christ child as seen by each culture, including Our Lady of Africa. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception - Wikipedia
Curious who here thinks Jesus was white. Please let me know and explain why you think that. Reason I ask is I was brought up Methodist, raised my kids in a Baptist church and don’t remember anyone of the many fellow church members who “when it was discussed” said Jesus was white as in Caucasian. I think some of you are trying too hard to paint Caucasian’s and Christians in a bad light. I don’t understand the effort to make others look bad just because they are different, believe differently, and such. I’m a month shy of 71 and it ceases to amaze me the hate hidden behind comments that are opinion only. Talk about projection. SMDH
I don't know if it's articulated but it's in the portraits you see. This is the one I recall seeing all around when I was young and I'm 9 years younger than you
As I was reading your post the portrait of a blond blue eyed Jesus subsequently posted by Tampa came to mind. It was painted in 1940 by Warner Sallman, a commercial artist who contracted with 2 Christian publishing companies, Catholic and protestant, to market his portrait worldwide for "everything from prayer cards to stained glass, faux oil paintings, calendars, hymnals and night lights." "Sallman’s painting culminates a long tradition of white Europeans creating and disseminating pictures of Christ made in their own image." The linked article goes on to list painters who have used their own likeness in portraying the Jesus in their portraits. The article also references Psalm 45 thought to be a prophetic illustration of the love between Christ and his church. The KJAV Psalm 45:2 describes the coming messiah as "fair" or beautiful in the original Hebrew, not the same as the description found in Isaiah 53:2 mentioned earlier in this thread, "having no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." Contradicting the Isaiah 53 description, Psalm 45:2 in the complete Jewish Bible reads "You're the handsomest of men; every word from your lips is sheer grace, and God has blessed you, blessed you so much." Make of that what you will. You may find the answer to your question in this article White Christian nationalism is an ‘unholy alliance’ between fundamentalism and politics, Tisby tells BNG crowd – Baptist News Global
The real Jesus probably looked much more like the image on the right than the one the left. He was a Middle Eastern Jew not a European. British artist’s photo showing the ‘real’ face of Jesus goes viral The image of Jesus that usually comes to mind is of a tall, long-haired, fair-skinned man wearing a white flowing dress. Contrary to that, this image shows Jesus to have a wheatish skin tone, short hair and broad features. Neave, retired from the University of Manchester in England, drew what he thinks is the real face of Jesus. He used a field of science called forensic anthropology to determine Jesus’ face, a method which is largely used to solve crimes. According to the Popular Mechanics, Neave and his research team acquired skulls from near Jerusalem, the region where Jesus lived and preached. Special computer programs then evaluated reams of information about known measurements of the thickness of soft tissue at key areas on human faces, which made it possible to recreate the muscles and skin overlying a representative Semite skull. They created a 3-D reconstruction of the face. The hairstyle and eye colour were determined after scrutinising drawings found at various archaeological sites, dating back to the first century. There have been many interpretations of how Jesus looked like but “this is probably a lot closer to the truth than the work of many great masters,” said Alison Galloway, professor of anthropology at the University of California in the article. However, forensic depictions are not an exact science, she cautions.
I don’t have a dog in the fight here, but if presented with the middle eastern looking image below your post as Jesus, what do you think would be the reaction to some of the Christians you have known? I can’t help but think it would be a little unsettling. It is even for me a bit and I’m an atheist. Jesus looking much like current middle eastern Muslims and not them/us is likely going to meet some resistance.
That’s the one I remember also. But when it was discussed in Sunday school or Bible class everyone acknowledged that Jesus was a Jew and most likely not (for a better lack of a words) not Lilly white.
The picture you reference is the one I grew up with except for when I visited my black friends where their picture of Jesus was black. The first time I saw it I was taken back by the difference. I was about 10 or so years old. I learned that people are more comfortable with others who look like themselves. It’s what humans do. I only commented because my experience when a church group at Bible study or Sunday school discussed Jesus it was acknowledged Jesus was a Jew and most likely darker skinned than a Caucasian. I doubt they went home and threw away their picture of “white” Jesus afterwards.
This is so stupid!!!! Because a handful of media types on the right have voiced their opinion of displeasure, as probably the majority of people don't care for ballet, it is causing the left to go nuts. Ok, now let's due the other side. Just look at the top threads here.
How dumb. Had noone ever seen the nutcracker? As a father of two very gifted dancers, (one chosing it as her minor in college and the other already instructing paid classes at 17) I have seen every adpect of dancing. My daughters have spent 15 years at an all girls studio and thus have had to play "male" roles on occasion because there are no guys in their studio. ( a wig and a tux type of thing) Nothing more than acting. My daughters could not be more beautiful, graceful and feminine.... And very into boys lol. Manufacturing outrage is the political crying of wolf these days. No one is gonna listen to the real stuff.
The High road? They are the high road... compared to the Devil-worshiping, groomer, pedophile, tranny story-time, NWO crap that the Dems are pimping out.
It's not actually the left that raised the issue, that complained that Biden had ruined Christmas, insulted all Christians, etc.
It is the left here that is going nuts because a few right leaning media folks made some statements. I hardly see the right on here acting like its a big deal and I hardly see the right as a whole thinking its a big deal. Not my cup of tea but whatever!!
Heck, I generally only see this nonsense when a liberal digs it up. Most of us arent even watching these talking heads anyway.
