Image of Mary and Jesus

[neweyes]

I’ve always wondered why Mary is often portrayed as a white woman, and Jesus as a fair-skinned babe in Catholic publications? Even the logo on this forum shows her as someone who could just as well have been a Minnesota blond rather than a Jewish woman from the Middle East.

 

[JonNC]

I’ve always wondered why Mary is often portrayed as a white woman, and Jesus as a fair-skinned babe in Catholic publications? Even the logo on this forum shows her as someone who could just as well have been a Minnesota blond rather than a Jewish woman from the Middle East.

http://www.laputanlogic.com/images/2006/03/07-1179AYBG300.jpg

I guess it depends on where you live.

 

[neweyes]

Woah, that’s interesting!

 

[Milliardo]

http://www.laputanlogic.com/images/2006/03/07-1179AYBG300.jpg

I guess it depends on where you live.

This has become a rather big debate on Orthodoxchristianity.net; however, not going into the canonicity of such an image, it can be fairly be said that there are representations of Mary and Jesus which go beyond the Western norm, as seen in this picture:

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/383/christmas2004ourladyofcyb3.jpg

 

[water]

I am not sure what she looked like when she appeared to those Catholics who were hiding themselves in the Jungle in Vietnam when the King was persecuting the Catholics … but here is what we have:

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/3675/lavangmj9.jpg

 

[edward_george]

Our Lady of Japan

 

[JonNC]

The image of Mary and Christ are not the visual representatiions we see here, beautiful though they are, but the image in our faith of One Lord and Savior of all peoples and nations, and His blessed mother.
I think it is fine that our representations may reflect our own human forms. He is, afterall, the brother and Savior of all.

Jon