White jesus

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freesoulhope

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maybe its just a culture thing like, chineses Christian churches might have a Chinese jesus, but why does the church, inflame peoples ignorance by displaying jesus as a white man? this is not always the case( and it doesnt matter if he was) but some peopel think he had darker skin, and certainly wasn’t white in the europeane sense. If it is true that he wasnt white, and if the church know this then, why do they continue this tradition? my cosin put me on the spot once, and he’s one of those people, that if give a little encouragement, and make things make sense, no matter how hard it is to believe in god in this crazy world, he will give it a go, or at least give it considerable thought. But When he told asked me about, why the catholic church had a white jesus. what could i say? for me it did not matter because i had faith, but for him, this was obviously a stumbling block, that made him think i was selling out. I fear he may end up in a false Christian church, at least this is where i think his mind is heading. do you have any thing, i could say to him? 😦
 
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freesoulhope:
maybe its just a culture thing like, chineses Christian churches might have a Chinese jesus, but why does the church, inflame peoples ignorance by displaying jesus as a white man? this is not always the case( and it doesnt matter if he was) but some peopel think he had darker skin, and certainly wasn’t white in the europeane sense. If it is true that he wasnt white, and if the church know this then, why do they continue this tradition? my cosin put me on the spot once, and he’s one of those people, that if give a little encouragement, and make things make sense, no matter how hard it is to believe in god in this crazy world, he will give it a go, or at least give it considerable thought. But When he told asked me about, why the catholic church had a white jesus. what could i say? for me it did not matter because i had faith, but for him, this was obviously a stumbling block, that made him think i was selling out. I fear he may end up in a false Christian church, at least this is where i think his mind is heading. do you have any thing, i could say to him? 😦
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There is no physical description of Jesus either in scripture or in oral tradition.
 
What is a “white man” and why does it matter? As thistle pointed out, we have no reliable recorded descrption of Jesus. We do have his genealogy which reveals his ethnicity. The precise color of his epidermis hardly seems relevant.

I have seen reference to a description by Muhammad, who claimed to have visited heaven and seen Jesus. The Prophet described Jesus as below average in height with reddish hair and freckles. Woody Allen?

I just can’t bring myself to be concerned about it.

JSA
 
I just don’t think it matters what He looked like…Just like any man in the MIddle East at that time probably…but why is it such an issue? White, black, red…they’re only genetical traits, nothing more, nothing less!

Anna x
 
Why is Jesus frequently portrayed as a White man?

People tend to represent Jesus in terms of their own culture. Since Christianity grew into a world faith largely under the umbrella of Western European and Byzantine civilization, images of Jesus reflect that.

The historical consciousness that attempts to reconstruct time past as it was did not arise until the 14th Century. Thus, the dominant image of Christ, which set the pattern for our imagination, is the image of a Western European man. Also contributing to this was the idea that Christianity, and the presence of Our Lord were not merely a historical event of the 1st Century, but are present and real in our own time.

Had Christianity found its dominant expression elsewhere, the images of Christ would doubtless have reflected that culture. Take a look at the wonderful Ethiopian Orthodox iconography of Our Lord with his round face, dark eyes, and curly hair.
 
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freesoulhope:
maybe its just a culture thing like, chineses Christian churches might have a Chinese jesus, but why does the church, inflame peoples ignorance by displaying jesus as a white man?
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the Church does not make artistic renderings of Jesus, artists do that. The Church endorses what we know about Jesus from the Gospels and does not speculate beyond that. Artists are products of their culture and their work is an outgrowth of their culture. Any local church is free to display artwork that resonates and conveys a spiritual reality, not necessarily a literal picture, to its parishioners. In any case any image other than a photograph, which we do not possess obviously, will not be a literally accurate picture, so we are left with the artist’s best attempt. Art is not theology, although it may embed theological and spiritual concepts and symbolism, but through the filter of the artist’s own conceptions.

That is quite an accusation that the Church is inflaiming ignorance by displaying an image that may or may not agree with the cultural assumptions of the viewer. Please be more moderate in your language.
 
What do you mean “the Church” portrays him? Isn’t it usually artists that portray Jesus?
Besides, he may not have been European, but he wasn’t African either, like some paintings I have seen of him. If it’s wrong to paint him looking European, isn’t it just as wrong to paint him looking African? I hear people referring to a “blonde” Jesus, but I’ve never seen him portrayed as blonde, either. He is usually portrayed with dark hair and a medium-light complexion, as far as I can tell. Honestly I don’t see why it’s worth getting worked up over, though. If his physical appearance were important, it would have been described in the NT.
 
well, some Christians would bristle about any representation of Jesus.

I agree that the depiction of Jesus as a European white man has actually alienated some people. Actually I think they were alienated from Christianity already, but the depiction of Jesus as white just gives them grist for argument.

I think the gospels depict Jesus as being rather common in appearance. Alternately, King David was described as being a rather handsome young man.

You can throw on the pile of your discontent the images of Mary in white and blue robes, lined with gold. Mary is often depicted as being not more than about 19 years old, usually. Whereas, when Jesus was crucified, she must have been in her late 40’s at least, and was probably in her 50’s or older at the time of her dormition.

The same sort of psychological projection occurs in the representation of the infant Jesus. On EWTN, the baby Jesus statue is definitely Italian in features, swarthy skin color and of course long curly hair. And, the other featured depiction of Jesus as a baby is with a head-full of blond curly hair.

No one would like to see Mary depicted like Swan (of MadTV), who in her own right would say that Jesus “looka like-a man.”
 
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thistle:
There is no physical description of Jesus either in scripture or in oral tradition.
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maybe not, but there is a letter from pilate to his superiors that is in possession of the Vatican. It describes him of being lighter complected than him peers and followers, like a European person of the time would be. An asside he also says finds Jesus’s teachings for lack of a better expression, refreshing. Pilate also oredered police troops under his command that no harm come to Jesus. This letter was printed in a sunday church bulleten at a parish my family belonged to about 20 years ago.
 
I was just thinking about this letter. I’m glad someone else mentioned it. I read it in a wierd book a long time ago and was wondering if the author was just accusing the vatican of hiding it or something. I’m glad to see that his assumption was incorrect and that I am not the only person who has heard of this. the letter also refers to Jesus’ brownish blond hair if I am not mistaken.

however, at the end of the day, it really does not matter much. He’s the Son of God and that’s all that matters to me!
 
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aspawloski4th:
maybe not, but there is a letter from pilate to his superiors that is in possession of the Vatican. It describes him of being lighter complected than him peers and followers, like a European person of the time would be. An asside he also says finds Jesus’s teachings for lack of a better expression, refreshing. Pilate also oredered police troops under his command that no harm come to Jesus. This letter was printed in a sunday church bulleten at a parish my family belonged to about 20 years ago.
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I’ve never heard of this. Can you tell us where we can read such a letter and has anyone determined if it is genuine or fake? The reason I ask is that if there was a genuine document giving any physical description of Jesus I’m sure that would have been made publicly known a long time ago.
 
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freesoulhope:
maybe its just a culture thing like, chineses Christian churches might have a Chinese jesus, but why does the church, inflame peoples ignorance by displaying jesus as a white man?
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You kind of answered your own question. It doesn’t matter what skin color Jesus had anymore than it matters if his teeth were crooked or straight, how big his nose or ears were or anything. It is true that we have a specific look to Jesus. We recognize portraits of Jesus, but that is because they are based on the Shroud of Turin and perhaps on Veronica’s veil. Still, each culture have portrayed Jesus as one of their own with the attributes of all the people of the world. I believe that this shows that Jesus is for all of us and that all of us are His people. Racial lines are blurred and we are one family this way.

In this way, every nationality can identify with Jesus more completely. His appearence doesn’t look alien to them. Interestingly enough, in the the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe (this image from Heaven), Our Lady is portrayed as a mix between the Spanish and the natives of Mexico – almost foreshadowing just how common the mixture of the two have become as most Mexicans have this mixture in them.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t especially love portraits of Christ with the attributes of a Jew from the middle east. Honestly, I don’t even think I know what those features are distinct about them.

Just remember that artists paints from what they know and oftentimes use human models.

It has absolutely nothing to do with so-called white supremacy.
 
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thistle:
I’ve never heard of this. Can you tell us where we can read such a letter and has anyone determined if it is genuine or fake? The reason I ask is that if there was a genuine document giving any physical description of Jesus I’m sure that would have been made publicly known a long time ago.
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One of the apocryphal NT-era books was a report from Pilate back to Rome. This may be what is being refferred to.
 
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Timidity:
One of the apocryphal NT-era books was a report from Pilate back to Rome. This may be what is being refferred to.
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Do you mean the Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate)? This was a fourth or fifth century document which I believe is not accepted by the Church.
Of course the other poster might be talking about something different so it would be good if he can give us more information.
 
As I’ve said before, Jesus probably looked like someone we would give special screening to at the airport nowadays.

Since there have been no significant folk movements through the area. So we have no reason to think He had anything but “typical” Levantine features.

Freesoulhope, why is it an issue for you?
 
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thistle:
I’ve never heard of this. Can you tell us where we can read such a letter and has anyone determined if it is genuine or fake? The reason I ask is that if there was a genuine document giving any physical description of Jesus I’m sure that would have been made publicly known a long time ago.
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I never heard of the letter till fr antekeier put it in the bulliten. It is a letter writting by pilate to tiberius caesar, the first of a few. a copy is at the vatican, and one is at the washington dc national library. I read that the early church fathers considered it nothing less than authentic. why havent you heard of it. with out being critical of anyone, Ill put it this way. most american Catholics are taught by those who teach the faith, are just taught “what they need to know” and not a deep teaching of the faith. theroughness is not an american trait anymore especially with non econmoic things. American Catholics are too ameircan and too little Catholic anymore.
 
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