Why is Jesus portrayed as a white man when he was born in the Middle East?

ElationAviation · Jul 10, 2010

Just wondering.
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I understand that this stems from the Renaissance... but still - if different cultures have different ideas of what Jesus looked like, and different cultures have different interpretations of bibles/religious texts... then how can we be certain of what the truth is? It's like playing one big game of Telephone.

CCAPalandiriel · Jul 10, 2010

Haha, great question. Just kind of a massive fail on Western Culture's part, as far as I'm concerned. Mary and him always have blue eyes too.......

Thesavorofpan · Jul 10, 2010

ElationAviation said:
Just wondering.

Well Back in the middle ages and the Renaissance artist were forced to just paint and what not religious figures only and since in that time people were racist beyoned belief they took the Jewish Jesus and made him white.

ElationAviation · Jul 10, 2010

CCAPalandiriel said:
Haha, great question. Just kind of a massive fail on Western Culture's part, as far as I'm concerned. Mary and him always have blue eyes too.......

Yep. Just kinda makes me wonder. I know the story behind it is he's the son of god and all, but still - that doesn't automatically make him white.
I used to be a Catholic and I remember sitting in church staring at portraits wondering this same exact thing. Hehe.

dogsgod · Jul 10, 2010

His father was God and God is white, any racist could tell you that.

Skwim · Jul 10, 2010

ElationAviation said:
Why is Jesus portrayed as a white man when he was born in the Middle East? Just wondering.

Because he was a white man! A blond, blue-eyed white man. And I have proof.

fallingblood · Jul 10, 2010

The people who painted him were white, thus they painted him as white. We see different cultures portraying him as asian, african, etc depending on the culture that painted those particular paintings.

ElationAviation · Jul 10, 2010

dogsgod said:
His father was God and God is white, any racist could tell you that.

Win.

beenie · Jul 10, 2010

dogsgod said:
His father was God and God is white, any racist could tell you that.

lol

ElationAviation · Jul 10, 2010

Such great posts so far... seriously. I'm trying to present this as a logical question and I've received a ton of insight and have altered the original post to reflect this.

Smoke · Jul 10, 2010

CCAPalandiriel said:
Mary and him always have blue eyes too.......

Not always. Not even usually.

The blond, blue-eyed Jesus is a "white" thing, and usually a Northern European thing, as portrayals of Jesus as an East Asian are generally East Asian portrayals.

Smoke · Jul 10, 2010

An Ethiopian icon:

fallingblood · Jul 10, 2010

A number of years ago, National Geographic used computer imaging to create what Jesus most likely would have looked like. This is what they came up with:

Personally, I think it is quite accurate. However, I think people simply are more comfortable with a face that is more similar to theirs.

Tarheeler · Jul 10, 2010

Smoke said:
Not always. Not even usually.

The blond, blue-eyed Jesus is a "white" thing, and usually a Northern European thing, as portrayals of Jesus as an East Asian are generally East Asian portrayals.

Very true.

Down here black Jesus has become very popular as well.

I think it just comes down to comfort and acceptance. People tend to be most comfortable with things that are familiar; and if your going to put a face on your God, you might as well make it a familiar face.

Rakhel · Jul 10, 2010

Blue eyed Jews were common back then. Now a days they are referred to as Baghdad blues. My husband and kids have them. It's just the hair and skin colours they got wrong.

dust1n · Jul 10, 2010

ElationAviation said:
Just wondering.
-------------------------
I understand that this stems from the Renaissance... but still - if different cultures have different ideas of what Jesus looked like, and different cultures have different interpretations of bibles/religious texts... then how can we be certain of what the truth is? It's like playing one big game of Telephone.

Well then how could all the blends of Christianity/racism in the past have happened?

Skwim · Jul 10, 2010

fallingblood said:
The people who painted him were white, thus they painted him as white. We see different cultures portraying him as asian, african, etc depending on the culture that painted those particular paintings.

So, then they're lying about Jesus! It's like saying ducks are elephants because you like ducks better. :sad:

Smoke · Jul 10, 2010

fallingblood said:
Personally, I think it is quite accurate.

It's probably pretty accurate as to ethnic type, but I hope he didn't look quite that dazed and confused.

ChristineES · Jul 10, 2010

ElationAviation said:
Just wondering.
-------------------------
I understand that this stems from the Renaissance... but still - if different cultures have different ideas of what Jesus looked like, and different cultures have different interpretations of bibles/religious texts... then how can we be certain of what the truth is? It's like playing one big game of Telephone.

Every time I have answered this question, I have given the same answer: People paint Jesus to look like them.

Skwim · Jul 10, 2010

Smoke said:
It's probably pretty accurate as to ethnic type, but I hope he didn't look quite that dazed and confused.

Well, at one point he was confused: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Why is Jesus portrayed as a white man when he was born in the Middle East?

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