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    #16
    Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

    I felt that he probably looked like any typical middle eastern jew at the time, brown skin, black hair and so on. Usually depicted with a white robe but he might have worn something else, too.

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      #17
      Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

      Originally posted by Roknrol View Post
      I like that picture. Jesus would be a cool biker.
      Anubisa

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

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        #18
        Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

        My belief is that if Jesus is God, he's capable of appearing as any race to people. Although I picked that belief up from my days of following Novus Spiritus (it's Gnosticism without the extra beliefs regarding psychic gifts and some extra stuff from other beliefs thrown in)
        What one believes in is infinitely more important than WHO they believe in.

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          #19
          Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

          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.
          Haha! I think that's funny. A nice commentary on how what once would have been outside influence can become so ingrained within a culture that it eventually becomes a part of it. Much the same as our white Jesus!

          I was reading a section in 'Liberating the Gospels' by Rev. Shelby Spong that touched on this topic. He suggests that Christianity became heavily Romanised over time and so adopted a Romanised depiction of Jesus that denies Christianity's Jewish heritage.
          Last edited by Azvanna; 18 Aug 2014, 01:43.

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            #20
            Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

            There is a stark difference between Jesus of Nazareth, a dude chilling out in 1st Century Judea who got executed for sedition against the Roman government, and Jesus the Christ, who died for the sins of all humanity.

            Honestly I'm with Muslim Scholar Reza Aslan on this one: Jesus the Christ, being a supernatural being is no one race. If you go throughout the world you'll find Jesus being portrayed as the ethnicity of the people who are worshiping him time after time. American Black Jesus, Korean Jesus, African Jesus, Japanese Jesus, the different White Jesuses of Europe and America (and there are some striking differences between them, lumping them all together is a mistake as well), middle eastern Jesus, etc etc etc.

            While Jesus of Nazareth was a man, Jesus Christ is beyond flesh and blood, and is whatever people need him to be. Drawing Jesus Christ as the ethnicity of those worshiping him is par for the course.

            This does of course leave open a question of when portraying Jesus as the Christ rather than the man is okay, and it doesn't stop the problem of white Jesus being massively over-saturated thanks to the power majority white nations have in the media, reducing the frequency people see other Jesuses.
            hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

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              #21
              Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

              Just think about this: Some people(maybe not you) just might think Jesus looks just like Elvis......on a black velvet painting...(Just saying)
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                #22
                Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                Originally posted by Malflick View Post
                There is a stark difference between Jesus of Nazareth, a dude chilling out in 1st Century Judea who got executed for sedition against the Roman government, and Jesus the Christ, who died for the sins of all humanity.

                Honestly I'm with Muslim Scholar Reza Aslan on this one: Jesus the Christ, being a supernatural being is no one race. If you go throughout the world you'll find Jesus being portrayed as the ethnicity of the people who are worshiping him time after time. American Black Jesus, Korean Jesus, African Jesus, Japanese Jesus, the different White Jesuses of Europe and America (and there are some striking differences between them, lumping them all together is a mistake as well), middle eastern Jesus, etc etc etc.

                While Jesus of Nazareth was a man, Jesus Christ is beyond flesh and blood, and is whatever people need him to be. Drawing Jesus Christ as the ethnicity of those worshiping him is par for the course.

                This does of course leave open a question of when portraying Jesus as the Christ rather than the man is okay, and it doesn't stop the problem of white Jesus being massively over-saturated thanks to the power majority white nations have in the media, reducing the frequency people see other Jesuses.
                I read his book. It was full of awesomeness!
                Satan is my spirit animal

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                  #23
                  Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                  Spinning off from Mal's quote.. honestly I don't think people really thought about Jesus' ethnicity when they painted him. Of course he looks like me!

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                    #24
                    Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                    Because people who look like Jesus are evil, how can he look like them?!
                    [4:82]

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                      #25
                      Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                      Originally posted by anunitu View Post
                      Just think about this: Some people(maybe not you) just might think Jesus looks just like Elvis......on a black velvet painting...(Just saying)
                      Now I want to see a velvet painting of dogs, Elvis, and Jesus all sitting together at a table playing poker.

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                        #26
                        Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                        Originally posted by Dumuzi View Post
                        Because people who look like Jesus are evil, how can he look like them?!
                        I'd actually put this down more to the insular nature of culture before mass communication. When Jesus was spread to India very early on, and then the Indian Christians were left totally without contact from the Western world, Jesus became very Indian and decidedly not-white. Jesus the Christ has been adapted to any culture he's been in, and those ancient cultures left behind long traditions of artwork depicting Jesus in the manner of their culture.In the next town over there is an exhibit at the University showing historical relics from different parts of Africa showing Jesus and Moses adapted with the symbology of their different regions and cultures in olden times, and all of them are black.

                        Without the ability of people to send information quickly, or travel quickly, the idea that a large group of people who either never or only rarely saw people of other ethnicities made a God look like them doesn't seem that outlandish. Its not like they knew any better, not because they were not intelligent but because that information was often not available to them.

                        And I want to make this very clear- I'm talking about a very different thing there than the Fox-News sort of "Jesus was white because white people are the BEST" mentality. Yeah, there are people who think Jesus is white because they are racists and I'm in no way or means denying that. But I also think there is a long cultural tradition across many continents at play here that shouldn't be discounted from the discussion.

                        - - - Updated - - -

                        Originally posted by Munin-Hugin View Post
                        Now I want to see a velvet painting of dogs, Elvis, and Jesus all sitting together at a table playing poker.
                        ...Yes. Me to, apparently.

                        - - - Updated - - -

                        Let me add something else on here: that Jesus the Christ has been portrayed throughout history as a representative of the culture he is being worshipped in can totally be used as a tool for racism, and is.

                        As it is my argument there is still focusing on the historical causes of a ethnically mirroring Jesus Christ rather than a discount of the misuses of "white Jesus" in disregarding his historical ethnicity and being really %&$(#ing mean to non-whites and non-Christians.

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                        Originally posted by Medusa View Post
                        I read his book. It was full of awesomeness!
                        Because my post can get even longer for no good reason: I actually got to meet him a few weeks ago! He was really nice, and I got to ask him some questions I'd been wondering about his book. Just a fantastic guy. My whole family was also surprised because he was even more handsome in person than his pictures show XD!
                        hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

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                          #27
                          Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                          Originally posted by Malflick View Post
                          But I also think there is a long cultural tradition across many continents at play here that shouldn't be discounted from the discussion.
                          That's a very good point! And I agree with your post. I just want to clarify that I wasn't talking about Jesus in different cultures, I was only specifically answering the question of the thread, which is why is Jesus depicted as a white man.
                          [4:82]

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                            #28
                            Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                            Originally posted by Dumuzi View Post
                            That's a very good point! And I agree with your post. I just want to clarify that I wasn't talking about Jesus in different cultures, I was only specifically answering the question of the thread, which is why is Jesus depicted as a white man.
                            I honestly don't see the difference between Jesus of nazerath and Jesus Christ . From what I've read of the bible Jesus of nazerath was Jesus in life and Jesus Christ was him after death. But when I think of white gods the first that come to mind is Odin and Thor since both originated from a predominantly white society . Now Jesus in my opinion has the ethnicity of someone from Jerusalem .
                            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

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                              #29
                              Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                              Because artists in the Medieval and Renaissance periods tended to depict people who looked like themselves. Some of them may have not even seen non-white people before, depending on where they lived and how well-known they were. You also see food in biblical scenes that looks more European than Middle Eastern (apples, etc). Our ideas of how Jesus and other people in the Bible look is heavily influenced by Renaissance art.

                              - - - Updated - - -

                              Originally posted by Doc_Holliday View Post
                              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.
                              I agree. Even if the artists had seen non-white people before, I highly doubt the audience would have. Although port cities and trade cities had a lot of international visitors, most of Europe was pretty isolated.

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                                #30
                                Re: why is Jesus depicted as a white man

                                Originally posted by satanic witch View Post
                                I honestly don't see the difference between Jesus of nazerath and Jesus Christ . From what I've read of the bible Jesus of nazerath was Jesus in life and Jesus Christ was him after death. But when I think of white gods the first that come to mind is Odin and Thor since both originated from a predominantly white society . Now Jesus in my opinion has the ethnicity of someone from Jerusalem .
                                Jesus of Nazareth: Guy from Nazareth in Galilee (not Jerusalem), messiah claimant during the occupation of Judea by Rome. Ethnically Jewish.
                                Jesus the Christ: Monotheistic God of all humans everywhere. Transcends humanity. Not mere flesh and blood but the word of God incarnate, a spiritual being that suffers for all humanity, not just those who look like him. As a transcendental spiritual being, is empathetic to all people, and is not any one race or of one people or one culture, but of all cultures and for all cultures.

                                That's the difference. Jesus the man didn't turn into Jesus the Christ when he was crucified, he is a concept of Jesus. Most Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth was always Jesus the Christ, always the chosen Messiah, and thus always a supernatural entity but in the form and flesh of a human man.

                                Jesus of Nazareth to me is Jesus Christ, but for the sake of this conversation I've been using "of Nazareth" to refer to the human conception of him and "the Christ" to refer to the spiritual one because we have to have some sort of terms for discussing them, and using these epithets is handy.
                                Last edited by Malflick; 28 Sep 2014, 16:30. Reason: spelling error
                                hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

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