Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

why is Jesus depicted as a white man

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    why is Jesus depicted as a white man

    OK so I've been thinking if Jesus lived in Bethlehem and the surrounding area then why is he depicted as a white man along with some other people in the bible? Wouldn't they actually look more like the modern day Muslim and be brown rather then white . This is just something that bugs me.
    Knowledge is the key to eternity. Not bowing before a deity not grovling at the feet of a messiah. Knowledge is power beyond mesure - satanic witch

    #2
    Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

    Because racism is a thing

    Comment


      #3
      Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

      Because Christianity, as it is observed in Western nations, developed and became modern in a European context.


      To be fair, he isn't always (and hasn't always been) depicted as white.


      People tend to think of their gods as being like them.
      Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
      sigpic

      Comment


        #4
        Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

        Yeah I don't think its too sinister really. When Europe was undiverse they portrayed him as the ideal caring peaceful looking white man, being relatable is a good thing.
        White and Red 'till I'm cold and dead.
        sigpic
        In Days of yore,
        From Britain's shore
        Wolfe the dauntless hero came
        And planted firm Britannia's flag
        On Canada's fair domain.
        Here may it wave,
        Our boast, our pride
        And joined in love together,
        The thistle, shamrock, rose entwined,
        The Maple Leaf Forever.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

          This reminds me of the meme of how the fuck did jesus find people named matthew, mark, luke and john in the middle east.

          My Italian grandmother had a very olive skin Jesus on her wall. Some African American churches have more darker skinned pictures in their churches.

          I believe the popular Jesus picture we are used to were developed during the crusades (not positive if that is accurate will follow up).

          Of course the world was smaller than we think he may have been a light skinned person, lots of the Jewish culture were noted as being of lighter skin than others of that region.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

            I watched a documentary a while back about the evolution of Jesus' appearance. My memory is a little fuzzy since it was a while ago, but they said he was originally portrayed (in the west) as much more feminine, that he might appeal more to women (prior to Mary's invention), since it was monotheistic with a male god. Even had breasts if I remember correctly. The beard came later, ripped from Zeus.

            I'm sure I'm butchering the facts here, but I can't remember the name of the doco. It was on BBC 4.

            EDIT: Aha! Found it. The Dark Ages: an Age of Light, episode 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiQwfSA6dks
            Last edited by Quetzal; 11 Jun 2014, 11:43.
            Yikes, all that cultural appropriation that used to be here tho

            Comment


              #7
              Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

              Malcolm X noted the same anomaly. History is written by the winners, but the artists have a say too. People paint/draw/sculpt what they know, so white folks tend to think of the world in white folks terms, and black folks tend to do the same. Further, just a few hundred years ago actual Bibles weren't exactly easy to come by, so descriptions were left up to the clergy, and...well...they think they have artistic license as well :P

              Christ was apparently described as having "Bronze skin" with "hair of wool"...doesn't sound "white" to me. Of course, we "know" he was Jewish, so that's a little closer...and rumor has it that the "immaculate conception" was really the result of a tryst with a Roman Soldier. So yeah...he'd probably have been a bit darker if he existed.

              In the context of the religion, he'd probably be turning over on his cross if he though people were concerned about the color of his skin rather than his message though

              - - - Updated - - -

              Originally posted by Historyforall View Post
              This reminds me of the meme of how the fuck did jesus find people named matthew, mark, luke and john in the middle east.
              Um...these are some of the oldest names in civilization...keep in mind that "similar" names (like the Scottish, Ian is actually the same as John) exist in a lot of different cultures.

              What always concerned me was that IIRC with the exceptions of Mark and John, most of the Bible is attributed to an individual with very little evidence. Sort of like saying, "Well, this song kind of sounds like something Weird Al would write, so it must be him." In my mind this doesn't lend much credibility to the background.

              Originally posted by Historyforall View Post
              I believe the popular Jesus picture we are used to were developed during the crusades (not positive if that is accurate will follow up).
              I believe you are correct - most notably Michelangelo, who didn't much care for painting and wasn't Christian, but had to pay the Bills. The Fresco's are entirely done up in the style of "People that I personally know" and "Subtle things I can do to piss off the church". Not bad for a sell-out.

              Originally posted by Historyforall View Post
              Of course the world was smaller than we think he may have been a light skinned person, lots of the Jewish culture were noted as being of lighter skin than others of that region.
              Complexions change in a relatively short period of time on the evolutionary scale, and for a variety of reasons only some of which are biological. Hell, he could have had vitalago or however you spell it.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                I grew up going to Catholic school. Jesus was shown as a white man. The saints were as well and some other bible characters. I don't know why they show Jesus as a white man, but it doesn't make sense. In a way, I agree with Jacob. I think racism is part of it.
                Anubisa

                Dedicated and devoted to Lord Anubis and Lady Bast. A follower of the path of Egyptian Wicca.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                  Oooh...I know, we all hate Wikipedia. Whatever.

                  In explaining the development of racial theories in the context of scripture, Colin Kidd, in his book The forging of races, argues that the assignment of race to biblical individuals has been a mostly subjective practice based on cultural stereotypes and societal trends rather than on scientific methods.[9] Kidd reviews a number of theories about the race of Jesus, ranging from a white Aryan Jesus to a black African Jesus, illustrating that there is no general agreement among scholars on the race of Jesus.[32]
                  From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_an...rance_of_Jesus - moderately interesting, but I didn't really see anything listed there that hasn't been mentioned here.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                    I knew that when it hit Europe but I just find it weird that people worship this Jesus but it looks totally different then the actual Jesus and yeah racism seems like a cause
                    Knowledge is the key to eternity. Not bowing before a deity not grovling at the feet of a messiah. Knowledge is power beyond mesure - satanic witch

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                      I still think Europeans making Jesus look white was not done with sinister cackling intentions. Europe was definitely mostly white. The church was trying to spread their religion as much as possible and making him white and soft looking made him look like a realistic person that you even might have seen before. I think its easy for us to moral high road and say "Well this was bad and racist and we know better." But if we were all villagers in Medieval France/England etc. We would not want an ethnic Jesus to represent our huge white empires. Nobody was asked to be accepting of diversity, so hardly anybody was. We do know better now, fortunately. Just the old image of white Jesus stuck.
                      White and Red 'till I'm cold and dead.
                      sigpic
                      In Days of yore,
                      From Britain's shore
                      Wolfe the dauntless hero came
                      And planted firm Britannia's flag
                      On Canada's fair domain.
                      Here may it wave,
                      Our boast, our pride
                      And joined in love together,
                      The thistle, shamrock, rose entwined,
                      The Maple Leaf Forever.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                        Originally posted by Doc_Holliday View Post
                        I still think Europeans making Jesus look white was not done with sinister cackling intentions.

                        (snip)

                        We do know better now, fortunately. Just the old image of white Jesus stuck.
                        ^This.

                        Look, this dichotomy between how life was 100, 200, 1000 years ago in what we think of as history vs. how life is now, today.......its not modern people in colonial orrenaissanceor medieval clothing and scenery...these people had colonial and renaissance and medieval attitudes, thoughts, and values too.

                        Judging them, and judging their ideas and accomplisments by our modern standards and concepts is incredibly conceited.

                        Ever hear of ethnocentrism? Cultural evolution makes going back in time just as different as a culture as biological evolution makes us a different species from neanderthals... And moreso, since cultural evolution is much swifter.
                        Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
                        sigpic

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                          I agree with Doc_Holliday and thalassa. It isn't likely, in my opinion, that there was any racist intentions behind the initial portrayal of Jesus as white. Just as there is not likely any racist intentions of different cultures portraying him as Asian, or others as African. The appearance is simply what people were most familiar with, and so it served as something of a default in portraying the appearance of Jesus.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                            Vague recollection from art history -

                            The earliest images known to be Jesus were done by Greeks. He looks a lot like the Greek images of Dionysus, complete with grape vine imagery.


                            Whatever this may mean in a cosmic sense, it looks to me, from my mundane viewpoint, as if Jesus was depicted as something familiar. You might just as we'll ask why Shakespeare's Julius Caesar was originally produced with Roman
                            characters in Elizabethan dress.
                            Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

                            Comment

                            Working...
                            X