Jesus skin colour ?

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Chuck1

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i was just thinking do you think Jesus wouldn’t have been totally white being form that part of the world and form Nazareth ?
 
Chuck1 said:
i was just thinking do you think Jesus wouldn’t have been totally white being form that part of the world and form Nazareth ?
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I don’t know why anyone would think Jesus was white. I would assume he was semetic in appearance, similar to the Arabs or darker Israelis.

🍿
 
Chuck1 said:
i was just thinking do you think Jesus wouldn’t have been totally white being form that part of the world and form Nazareth ?
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He would not have been White, as in Northern European, nor would He have been Negroid, as in subSaharan African.

He would have been Meditteranean, possibly looking Southern Italian, Greek or Arab. But that would still have made Him Caucasian, since those of Southern European and also those of Semitic ancestry (Jews, Arabs) are anthropologically and scientifically considered part of the Caucasian (white) race, just not in the same way as Northern Europeans are.

But why should it matter anyway?
 
Seems to me this thread belongs somewhere else. Maybe the Back Fence.
 
Zhenia said:
He would not have been White, as in Northern European, nor would He have been Negroid, as in subSaharan African.

He would have been Meditteranean, possibly looking Southern Italian, Greek or Arab.

But why should it matter anyway?
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The reason any of that has mattered especially in the past is that when people are enslaved and told that they are inferior because of their skin color, but are Christianized and shown pictures of a white God and Son of God, it wrecks your identity.

Things are changing, but in some places Jesus, Mary and all the Saints are shown as white. Imagine how that makes someone who is not white feel?

That may be an American thing since America has such an – shall we say-- interesting experience with race relations.

And that’s all I’m saying. There is a reason I generally don’t go to some of the other forums because I don’t like to get into racial discussions. I’m here to learn about Catholicism. :signofcross:
 
I’d say it is more likely he resembled Arabs or Shepardic Jews more than Nordic Europeans as we often see him portrayed. Of course Jesus in religious art is often the race of the community in which the art was created, in Europe he is often seen as white, in Egypt and Ethiopia the Copts have an African or Arabic Jesus (depending on the community), in Oriental communities he is often Asiatic in art etc… historically Christ (in all likelihood) would have looked more like a modern Arab or Shepardi than any other race, and would have worn garments common for either Judeans or citizens of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. As long as these images are reverent, contain no blasphemy and are meant to represent Our Lord, the shade of His skin is of little consequence (it largely is a cultural issue). Of course religious art aside, the colour of Christ’s skin really isn’t important as what matters is that regardless of what race His Body was, He is God and it was his Blood that was shed for our salvation.
 
Since no-one knows what Christ really looked like, the tendency is to portray Him as one’s own race. Thus European depictions show Him as white, whereas if you look at African artworks of Christ they tend to show HIm as having darker skin. To some extent it’s a natural human instinct, we tend to be more partial to faces from our own race. But Jesus was more likely olive skinned, similar to modern people from Israel.
 
TrueLight said:
Things are changing, but in some places Jesus, Mary and all the Saints are shown as white. Imagine how that makes someone who is not white feel?

QUOTE]

I imagine the same way a person feels when they see a picture of the Queen ( or whoever their head of state is), and she is white. The race Christ is shown as is a cultural thing in art, and those who have a problem with it are themselves the ones with “race issues”.
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Crusading_Canuk said:
TrueLight;8183666:
Things are changing, but in some places Jesus, Mary and all the Saints are shown as white. Imagine how that makes someone who is not white feel?

QUOTE]

I imagine the same way a person feels when they see a picture of the Queen ( or whoever their head of state is), and she is white. The race Christ is shown as is a cultural thing in art, and those who have a problem with it are themselves the ones with “race issues”.
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The attached picture is from Barcelona Cathedral,
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Crusading_Canuk said:
I imagine the same way a person feels when they see a picture of the Queen ( or whoever their head of state is), and she is white. The race Christ is shown as is a cultural thing in art, and those who have a problem with it are themselves the ones with “race issues”.
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Darn, you had to bring me back and then I’m gone.

Let me clarify. I would not have a problem with a White, Asian, Native American, Latino or any other race or ethnicity Christ. God the Son can incarnate in whatever race he wants.

However, if you cannot understand that when a race is told it is subhuman because of its color, yet is told to serve a white God, that it can be problematic, then there is nothing else to say.

That is the reason why some people have some problems with the representation.

I do not have a problem that Jesus was Jewish and semetic in appearance.

And that’s it.
 
God became man. God will be man for the rest of eternity. This is all we need to know. What sort of man? A good man - the greatest man who ever lived, because He is also God. Christ is risen, whether He is risen an arab, dark-skinned jew, or nordic man: Christ is risen!
 
Crusading_Canuk said:
TrueLight;8183666:
Things are changing, but in some places Jesus, Mary and all the Saints are shown as white. Imagine how that makes someone who is not white feel?

QUOTE]

I imagine the same way a person feels when they see a picture of the Queen ( or whoever their head of state is), and she is white. The race Christ is shown as is a cultural thing in art, and those who have a problem with it are themselves the ones with “race issues”.
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With respect, it is not the same as the Queen. I can see a photo of the Queen and her skin colour is irrelevant because that is a photrgraph of a living person, that is her actual appearance.

For me, I find it very uncomfortable to see pictures or statues of Jesus or Mary that portray them as having very pale skin, blue eyes and sometimes even blonde hair! They did not look like that, so I find it disturbing to have them depicted that way, as if the whiteness of your skin is an indicator of your holiness. I imagine for someone who is not white that it must be quite upsetting.
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Glorious Order has the right idea. Who cares, he is Jesus, the risen Christ. That’s pretty much the bottom line. All we need to know. God bless all at, caf. Brenda
 
I agree that skin colour does not matter and that the colour of the human form of Jesus was chosen to match the people of the area and it would have varied had he been born of a woman of a different race and location. I would think, and agree with many here who have said a darker Arab skin tone.
 
I think that there are many Roman Catholics who believe that Jesus’ skin color resembles that of other people coming from the region where he lived and died. I think there has always been a desire among some of the faithful to see his face. And sometimes one can hardly find a picture of Jesus that will satisfy that desire except maybe for the shroud of tourin which many believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus with his image on it. But It is not unusual to see images of Jesus and his Blessed Mother painted in various skin tones in order to appeal to people of all nations and races. The image of Our Lady of Guadelupe is quite dark and Our Lady of Puy France is black as well as images of them in Africa. It doesn’t bother me to see these images in a very dark even black skin tone. Why should it bother anyone to see these images painted with a lighter skin tone?
 
zab said:
I think that there are many Roman Catholics who believe that Jesus’ skin color resembles that of other people coming from the region where he lived and died. I think there has always been a desire among some of the faithful to see his face. And sometimes one can hardly find a picture of Jesus that will satisfy that desire except maybe for the shroud of tourin which many believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus with his image on it. But It is not unusual to see images of Jesus and his Blessed Mother painted in various skin tones in order to appeal to people of all nations and races. The image of Our Lady of Guadelupe is quite dark and Our Lady of Puy France is black as well as images of them in Africa. It doesn’t bother me to see these images in a very dark even black skin tone. Why should it bother anyone to see these images painted with a lighter skin tone?
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You mean something like this?

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRzxYVqJLGqMEV63wFDTQmslZr9m8PxLLL8h2655Xc3d6yPjDko
 
Who cares what color His skin was. He is our Lord and Savior. Skin color has nothing to do with it.
 
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