Jesus,a black man, really?

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faithbound

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A co-worker said to me that Jesus only came for the tribe of Judah and that Jesus was a black man. Apparently the tribe of Judah people are all of a black color. :eek:
I really don’t see what color has to do with Jesus’ teachings in the first place.
 
:hmmm: My understanding is that Jesus is not caucasian. He would be Jewish. People from that part of the world do have darker complexions. You can see what a person from that area of the world looks like by just watching the news at night.

Jesus, in my understanding, is not a black man in the African sense. Someone else, though, may have a different perspective.
 
By definition, Jesus was a caucasian, as defined in the American Heritage Dictionary: adj. Of or being a major human racial classification traditionally distinguished by physical characteristics such as very light to brown skin pigmentation and straight to wavy or curly hair, and including peoples indigenous to Europe, northern Africa, western Asia, and India.

Since Israel is part of the region between northern africa and western asia, Jesus is caucasian. Was his skin dark? Probably, he worked out in the sun all day as a carpenter and then as a teacher.
 
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Apologia100:
Was his skin dark? Probably, he worked out in the sun all day as a carpenter and then as a teacher.
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yes, but His skin wasn’t dark because He was outside, but because He would have has naturally dark skin. it wouldn’t have been african dark, it would have been middle-eastern dark. Jesus was not white in the european sense, He was middle-eastern. He would have had curly thick hair (unless He was bald but there is no reason to think that) that was black and His skin would have been a natural (not suntanned) brown. it’s possible for Him to have had blue eyes (as that does happen very rarely in the middle-eastern races), but unlikely. does it really matter? i think so because too many white americans and europeans have boxed in this image of Jesus to the point where describing Him with darker skin has becom “heretical”. **should ** it matter? no.
 
I didn’t mean to imply that Jesus would have looked like a poster-boy for the Swedish Bobsledding team, just that is race was as a Caucasian and ethnically as a Semite. He would have looked much like the Jews living in Israel look like today, ruddy complected, dark wavy hair, beared. There are some here that imply that Jesus should look like he was transplanted from the Congo, which is equally wrong. But I agree with your final analysis, His blood was still red and ran for people of all races, ethnicities and skin colors.
 
Some people like to think that Jesus was black. I heard a black professor speak on the radio, that since Africa and Asia are really one continent then, Jesus had to be black. Well, what about the Chinese?
Don’t be confused as to what you SEE. You’re eyes can deceive you. Many people think that Northern Africans (like Egyptians ) are black. Not so.

What did Jesus look like? We don’t know. But by looking at modern people today in that area is not a indication what Jesus looked like. He lived 2000 years ago. That area has changed. Many groups of people from all over have come and gone through that area.

One researcher of the Shroud of Turin has an idea that if the hair of the person on the Shroud (if it is Jesus. I believe it is), had either blonde hair or it became white during the Resurrection. Intersting.
A little off subject but, we have all read the replies about the controversy about the “Davinci Code” and such. I read the book that the Davinci Code is based on called “Holy Grail, Holy Blood”. It is based on the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. One theory is that Jesus, as a Jew and possibly a rabbi would have committed a sin if He weren’t married. Well, He committed other “sins” as well, such as curing on the Sabath and saying He was God’s Son. If he were unmarried, and had blonde hair I think they were further reasons to put Him to death: He was different from the others. Yes, its true, He was different.
 
Mike C:
A little off subject but, we have all read the replies about the controversy about the “Davinci Code” and such. I read the book that the Davinci Code is based on called “Holy Grail, Holy Blood”. It is based on the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. One theory is that Jesus, as a Jew and possibly a rabbi would have committed a sin if He weren’t married. Well, He committed other “sins” as well, such as curing on the Sabath and saying He was God’s Son. If he were unmarried, and had blonde hair I think they were further reasons to put Him to death: He was different from the others. Yes, its true, He was different.
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You should start another thread on this since it is an interesting topic in itself.

As for Jesus as a “person of color”–this idea has been around for around 20-30 years, as far as I can tell. There is no real reason to think so besides wishful thinking on some peoples part (combined with very bad biblical exigesis), so that they can more easily “identify” with Jesus. I suspect the reason the gospels is silent on this issue is because the inspired writers didn’t want us to get caught up in appearances. I happen to be Hispanic with a fairly swarthy complexion, but if Jesus turned out to be blue-eyed and blondish like in the 50’s era holy cards, it matters little to me. What matters is that he is Lord and Savior.
 
i think people tend to go to revelations 1:13 and get the idea that Jesus was ‘black’…but technically speaking from the fact that Jesus was a Jew, he most likely was not caucasian or black. where the blue-eyed blonde haired Jesus came from…well we can only imagine…that is just an interpretation. i am a black female of african decent, but to me it does not matter as to what ethnicity or what color Jesus was, i don’t even pay mind to pictures of ‘Jesus’, as stated by someone above, he is our Lord and Saviour…and thats all that really should matter…its when we get wrapped up in ‘color’ that we start to seperate.

Ciao
 
basically if Jesus were on Earth today, he would be stopped in airports all the time, due to his appearence.

of course the nails in his hands and feet would wreak havoc on the metal detectors anyways 🙂
 
DianJo said:
:hmmm: My understanding is that Jesus is not caucasian. He would be Jewish. People from that part of the world do have darker complexions. sense. Someone else, though, may have a different perspective.
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Jews are often caucasian. He is middle-eastern, so yes he was probably darker, although I doubt African. But no, he is not caucasian, he doesnt live the right part of the world.
 
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Minerva:
of course the nails in his hands and feet would wreak havoc on the metal detectors anyways 🙂
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i know this is off topic, but let’s remember that He no longer has the nails in his hands and feet. he has the marks but the nails have been removed.
 
Who gets to decide who is a “Caucasian” in the first place? If my dad is Japanese, and my mother is Swedish, am I still “caucasian”? If I have jet black skin, yet blond hair and blue eyes, am I “caucasian”? What if my ancestors 200 years ago were African slaves of Thomas Jefferson’s family, but now – after intermarrying with Europeans for a couple hundred years – my family and I look like any other European, am I “caucasian”?

Jesus’ melanin-content is unknown. The most plausible guess is that he was anywhere from light brown to olive-complected. Whether he was “caucasian” depends upon who’s defining the term, and for what reason.
 
This whole idea stems from Noah’s son that was cursed to be the lowest of slaves, or servant. It’s from his lineage that the Jesus comes. I think it’s on Mary’s side. It stems from a misunderstanding of what the lowest of slave, or servant, is referreng to. It is a very convoluted argument that no one, outside a few fringe figures, takes seriously.
 
Scientifically, a Caucasian is a native of the Caucasus mountains. Technically, Jesus is a Semite, which includes Israelites, Arabs, and Western Indians.
 
I know it shouldn’t matter, but for me it sometimes does. I get annoyed with the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus that is so often depicted, and I was happy to see Mel Gipson made sure to color Jesus’ eyes as brown in The Passion. Jesus is our Lord first and foremost, but he was also a man, a Middle-Eastern Jew, and I feel that that’s very important to his human identity. Jesus came from that region, from that people, for a reason, and casually side-stepping his actual ethnicity does a disservice to the wholeness of Scripture, IMO.

I imagine Jesus looked very similar to His modern-day relatives, the Palestinian Arabs and the Mizrahi Jews: tan to light brown skin, very dark, wavy hair, and deep, dark eyes. Sometimes it’s hard to keep this image of Him in my mind because of the perpetuation of other depictions, but I try to keep that focused as much as possible. Jesus was a Jew, a man from Middle-East, and His lineage was very important to His person and His mission of Salvation.

EDIT:
Scientifically, a Caucasian is a native of the Caucasus mountains.
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Ironically, many people from the Caucasus mountains, like my mother’s family, are dark-skinned and share many features in common with Persians (Iranians).
 
why dosn’t anyone stick to immages of Jesus that He has revealed to us, such as my personal favorite, the Divine Mercy Jesus
 
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faithbound:
A co-worker said to me that Jesus only came for the tribe of Judah and that Jesus was a black man. Apparently the tribe of Judah people are all of a black color. :eek:
I really don’t see what color has to do with Jesus’ teachings in the first place.
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You’re co-worker is wrong. Jesus was one of those smooth tanned fellows. Yup, Jesus was a Puerto Rican :whistle: http://www.nesc.k12.ar.us/PHS/bused/faculty/Foreign/maracas animated.gif http://www.nesc.k12.ar.us/PHS/bused/faculty/Foreign/maracas animated.gif

Peace,
CM
 
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Meggie:
why dosn’t anyone stick to immages of Jesus that He has revealed to us, such as my personal favorite, the Divine Mercy Jesus
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In the first place, private revelation is not binding upon anyone.

It is entirely possible that the image of Jesus was enhanced or distorted by the imagination of Sister Faustina.

We aren’t even required or expected to believe private revelation. It doesn’t carry enough weight to be an authoritative standard for an image of Jesus.

It’s the same for most representations, they are informed by the culture they come from. It cannot be helped we are fallible humans.
 
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Ghosty:
I know it shouldn’t matter, but for me it sometimes does. I get annoyed with the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus that is so often depicted, and I was happy to see Mel Gipson made sure to color Jesus’ eyes as brown in The Passion. Jesus is our Lord first and foremost, but he was also a man, a Middle-Eastern Jew, and I feel that that’s very important to his human identity. Jesus came from that region, from that people, for a reason, and casually side-stepping his actual ethnicity does a disservice to the wholeness of Scripture, IMO.

I imagine Jesus looked very similar to His modern-day relatives, the Palestinian Arabs and the Mizrahi Jews: tan to light brown skin, very dark, wavy hair, and deep, dark eyes. Sometimes it’s hard to keep this image of Him in my mind because of the perpetuation of other depictions, but I try to keep that focused as much as possible. Jesus was a Jew, a man from Middle-East, and His lineage was very important to His person and His mission of Salvation.

EDIT:
Ironically, many people from the Caucasus mountains, like my mother’s family, are dark-skinned and share many features in common with Persians (Iranians).
Click to expand...
This was an excellent post. It is a lot like I would have said if I could have thought of it.

Has anyone seen the Christ Pantocrator mosaic in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington?

Quite blonde and muscular, clearly the ideal from someones imagination.
 
I’ve seen the mosaic at the Immaculate Conception and really don’t care for it, precisely because it is blond and unbearded, like a Roman deity. Also he looks scary!
 
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