Was Jesus a Jew racially?

[StrawberryJam]

Let’s face it, **we don’t know for sure **how Jesus looked like, and the whole idea of **‘historical accuracy’ is a rather new phenomenon **that came up when studies like archaeology flowered. Many early artists didn’t seem to care if Jesus or other Biblical characters wasn’t ‘Jewish’ enough, just as they didn’t care whether a piece of clothing or an architectural structure actually existed in Biblical times: they painted only what is familiar to them.

Granted, I always complain that I’m not really a fan of the dainty, ultra-blond Jesuses with spotlessly-clean clothes and fair, delicate skin.

Please elaborate a bit. I am learning more now.

 

[StrawberryJam]

I agree with this but In the gospels it says that judas was needed to identify Jesus, meaning that he didn’t stand out among his apostles. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say he was just as Jewish in appearance as everyone else.

Explain your line of logic. Nothing you posted here can be “safe to say”

 

[patrick457]

I agree with this but In the gospels it says that judas was needed to identify Jesus, meaning that he didn’t stand out among his apostles. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say he was just as Jewish in appearance as everyone else.

Reminds me of a certain Monty Python sketch. “Are they too Jewish? I made Judas the most Jewish.”

 

[patrick457]

Please elaborate a bit. I am learning more now.

We don’t know for sure, because we do not have any portraits of Jesus made during His lifetime or the decades after that. The first generations of His disciples did not apparently think it important to draw or paint His face or body or to describe in detail how He looked like. And even if they did, those portraits or descriptions have not survived.
Those purported verbal descriptions of Jesus made by characters like Publius Lentulus (himself fictional) are just medieval forgeries. Granted, we do have some relics like the Shroud of Turin - the authenticity of which I do believe - but given their still rather ambiguous status I’d say not to rely too much on them.

It is only in recent centuries that ‘historical authenticity’ became such a big deal, coinciding with the rise of subjects like modern archaeology, when the process of digging up and collecting antiquities began to be considered serious science. As we began to study in more depth the cultures of the past the natural impulse would be to attempt and desire to show things as they would have likely been. Hence the reason why you have Renaissance fairs and Historical reenactment, with all their emphasis on authenticity or the A-factor nowadays, and people criticizing this movie or that painting because it is not ‘historically accurate’. Thus the feud between ‘authenticity’, which pushes for the idea to show things in a periodically-correct way, and ‘iconography’, which mostly does not care for ‘realism’ but is content to employ conventions and motifs hallowed by time.

 

[DavidFilmer]

So he was not a Levite

You may be asking because Jesus was a priest, and (for the Jews) priests had to be Levites.

But Jesus was a “priest after the order of Melchizedek.” And Melchizedek was not a Levite (or even a descendant of Abraham). He ministered to Abraham before Levi was born.

 

[StJudePray4Me]

I don’t think Judaism is a race.

As I understand it, as far as religious traditions and practices, Jesus was a Jew. He came from a Jewish family. I am not familiar with the more nuanced categories as far as the tribes, etc.

As far as race, as I understand it, people of Middle Eastern countries are considered Caucasian.

I would imagine Jesus looked like other people from his part of the world…probably dark haired and olive complected. But who knows for sure?

I also think it’s tricky to try to categorize Jesus using modern notions of race and ethnicity. In His day, the world and societies were different.

What is the purpose of trying to define Him this way?

 

[StJudePray4Me]

The only thing I don’t get is why do people depict Jesus as white when he clearly wasn’t?

Well, how do you define “white?” Caucasian?

My dad is Italian. He is olive skinned and has dark hair and eyes. He considers himself white Caucasian.

If you mean, why do people depict him as fair skinned and light hair and eyes? I would guess it’s because the western world had been pretty racist for a long time, and fair people were considered superior. Or, it could be the more innocent idea that people just want Jesus to look like them, so they can feel connected to Him.

 

[newconvert56]

I don’t think Judaism is a race.

Yes, I always understood it to be an ethnic group not a race.

As I understand it, as far as religious traditions and practices, Jesus was a Jew. He came from a Jewish family. I am not familiar with the more nuanced categories as far as the tribes, etc.

As far as race, as I understand it, people of Middle Eastern countries are considered Caucasian.

What is the purpose of trying to define Him this way?

Yes, I am wondering that myself

 

[puzzleannie]

The only thing I don’t get is why do people depict Jesus as white when he clearly wasn’t?

“people” who create any kind of sacred art tend to use images including those of persons, familiar to them. That is why you will see bible scenes in art where the people are all dressed like 15th c. Florentines, or 17c Netherlanders for instance. It has not one single solitary thing to do with the human ancestry of Jesus or of Church teaching on same and everything to do with the personal choices and experience of the artist.

 

[Cirdan_XII]

The only thing I don’t get is why do people depict Jesus as white when he clearly wasn’t?

Because the artist wanted to depict Jesus as one of the people? In the middle ages it was quite common for artists to depict Jerusalem as a mediaevil European town, either because that was the only type of town they had ever seen, or because they wanted people to be able to associate with it.

In the same way they depicted Jesus to look like one of them. In the same way some African artists depict him as an African. Seeing nobody knows precisely what Jesus looked, like, what colour his eyes were etc, it doesn’t really matter what artists assume.

 

[Guitarjesus7]

Explain your line of logic. Nothing you posted here can be “safe to say”

If the people who arrested him couldnt differentiate him from his apostles then he obviously wasnt dramatically different in appearance than everyone else.

 

[newconvert56]

You’re right, I am old enough to remember those days. I just don’t think like that anymore, although if my kids are asked what “they are” they would tell you Inupiac (eskimo), Irish, German, and Jewish. So my point is, well really I’m not sure!

 

[vsedriver]

The only thing I don’t get is why do people depict Jesus as white when he clearly wasn’t?

Semite people are considered part of the Caucasian group.

 

[chaunceygardner]

Well, how do you define “white?” Caucasian?

**My dad is Italian. He is olive skinned and has dark hair and eyes. He considers himself white Caucasian.**If you mean, why do people depict him as fair skinned and light hair and eyes? I would guess it’s because the western world had been pretty racist for a long time, and fair people were considered superior. Or, it could be the more innocent idea that people just want Jesus to look like them, so they can feel connected to Him.

**I don’t think Judaism is a race. **
As I understand it, as far as religious traditions and practices, Jesus was a Jew. He came from a Jewish family. I am not familiar with the more nuanced categories as far as the tribes, etc.

As far as race, as I understand it, **people of Middle Eastern countries are considered Caucasian.**I would imagine Jesus looked like other people from his part of the world…probably dark haired and olive complected. But who knows for sure?

I also think it’s tricky to try to categorize Jesus using modern notions of race and ethnicity. In His day, the world and societies were different.

What is the purpose of trying to define Him this way?

Semite people are considered part of the Caucasian group.

Although it took awhile, I am glad that someone posted that there is no such racial group as “Jewish”, which is no more a race than “Catholic” is. All Jews are not even culturally or ethnically the same, just like all Catholics are not. Even in Biblical times, there was a mixing of ethnicities within Judaism as others have mentioned, and in the NT times Jews were not only in Palestine but in Northern Africa, the Arab Peninsula, and around the Mediterranean from the Middle East lands to Italy. Hellenist Jews were quite different from Palestine Jews, as we can see in the NT.

The peoples of the Middle East generally fall within the Caucasian race, which doesn’t necessarily mean fair complexion and northern and western European features, as is pointed out in the quote above. Jesus was ethnically Semitic and culturally Hebrew, in other words Jewish. He was not Greek or German (?) or East Indian or whatever, as much as some people want to make Him something other than what He was.

As far as how and why we depict Jesus as looking like “us”, that will vary depending on who is creating the image. He has been depicted in religious art as Greek, African, Oriental, Indian, etc. People do that because they want Jesus to be like them, to feel that He is one with them (which is really much more than physical appearance). Frankly, Jesus likely looked more like the taxi driver who took me to the airport recently than He looked like the images in most of the religious artwork we see, whether created today or in the past.

 

[samiam1611]

I don’t think Judaism is a race.

As I understand it, as far as religious traditions and practices, Jesus was a Jew. He came from a Jewish family.

Correct, Judaism is not a race. Judaism is a religion. Jewish is, among other things, an ethnicity. People born to a Jewish mother are also Jewish according to Jewish oral law. Since Mary was Jewish, so was Jesus. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_jew if you are confused or want to know more!

 

[Lev23]

Romans 9:1-5
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Yes he is, not “was”. Amen.

 

[Glorthac]

Correct, Judaism is not a race. Judaism is a religion. Jewish is, among other things, an ethnicity. People born to a Jewish mother are also Jewish according to Jewish oral law. Since Mary was Jewish, so was Jesus. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_jew if you are confused or want to know more!

If you read my original post (I’m the OP), you’d see I clearly made the distinction between “Jews” of a religious sense, and “Jews” of a racial sense.

But science clearly has show there is a racial distinction of racial “Jews”. There’s like whole studies on their Y chromosone!

 

[samiam1611]

If you read my original post (I’m the OP), you’d see I clearly made the distinction between “Jews” of a religious sense, and “Jews” of a racial sense.

But science clearly has show there is a racial distinction of racial “Jews”. There’s like whole studies on their Y chromosone!

Yes, just wanted to point that out to SaintJudePray4Me

 

[StJudePray4Me]

If you read my original post (I’m the OP), you’d see I clearly made the distinction between “Jews” of a religious sense, and “Jews” of a racial sense.

But science clearly has show there is a racial distinction of racial “Jews”. There’s like whole studies on their Y chromosone!

But wouldn’t that be shared genetic material due to shared ethnic backgrounds?

Could you maybe link to some of these studies?

 

[samiam1611]

But wouldn’t that be shared genetic material due to shared ethnic backgrounds?

Could you maybe link to some of these studies?

Basically yeah. If you are to limit your definition of who is a Jew to being descended from Jews, you are going to see some genetic similarities. But the diaspora has also created some significant differences too. “Autosomal studies have shown that Jewish populations share a common Middle Eastern ancestry and that over their history they have undergone varying degrees of admixture with non-Jewish populations.”
These articles are a nice summary of the studies. You could look at the reference at the bottom for links to specific studies.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew#Genetic_studies
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_studies_on_Jews