Why did people depict Jesus as a white man?
Posted by admin on 22 Jan 2009 3:44 am. Filed under History.
The Jacko
C’mon, who was white where Jesus lived back then.
That’s like in 2 thousand years if people thought Benjamin Franklin was black. How if he would have been a slave like if Jesus was white, and everybody else was black, they would have been freaked out. Who do you know Jewish that was born with blond hair and blue eyes? Jews are’nt white, just like real Italians from Italy are not white get it through your head people!
C’mon, who was white where Jesus lived back then.
That’s like in 2 thousand years if people thought Benjamin Franklin was black. How if he would have been a slave like if Jesus was white, and everybody else was black, they would have been freaked out. Who do you know Jewish that was born with blond hair and blue eyes? Jews are’nt white, just like real Italians from Italy are not white get it through your head people!
12 Comments to “Why did people depict Jesus as a white man?”
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On January 23rd, 2009 at 2:42 am
Medieval artists and Byzantine artists depicted him so because they too were white.
On January 25th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Jews are usually Caucasian.
On January 26th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Christ is white because he did not come from two same-race parents. God has no race, therefore it would make sense that people portray his image according to their own culture. The New Testament was translated by europeans. However it is generally accepted that Jesus might of had brown hair, eyes, and white skin.
On January 28th, 2009 at 9:04 am
If you look at eastern cultures thousands of years ago, a very small group of people were christian. The groups of the western civilization, which includes Greece and Rome, knew the story of Jesus and were Caucasian, passing the story to more of the European society. The people wanted a Jesus that was easy to relate to themselves, and was easily recognizable.
On January 30th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
So Don I’m feeling that you are disturbed about how the truth is twisted from culture to culture? No? Its the nature of the “beast” Don. Any group or culture will twist anything so that they look like the good guys. There’s a saying, “History is written by the victors”. Therefore it doesn’t really matter to people what the truth is-what matters is how they “look” in their version of the truth.
So try not to let it bother you because “they” ain’t done twisting yet!
On February 2nd, 2009 at 9:03 pm
As a native of the middle east and as a person who apparently travelled a lot (outdoors of course) Jesus is unlikely to have had a creamy-white European complexion. But Christianity was later very definitely a European-dominated religion so artists would have pictured him as European looking.
On February 5th, 2009 at 6:18 am
Take a look at this:
I believe the image of Jesus here is the reconstruction shown in the BBC series mentioned above:
From:
On February 7th, 2009 at 8:36 am
When a culture is convinced that their race is right then Jesus must conform. Jesus has been depicted as a white blue eyed blond to enforce the concept of white is right.
Missionaries, white, attempt to subjugate entire cultures through the White Jesus when what they really do is make – even though they may not recognize their true aim – other societies and cultures conform to their own.
These efforts have nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with the vanity of racial pride.
You are quite right, of course; but why are you so mad regarding the ignorance of others?
On February 9th, 2009 at 2:10 am
Jews look fairly white to me.
On February 10th, 2009 at 2:00 am
Because white men were painting the pictures.
On February 10th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Why? Because that’s what He was.Have you even been to Israel ,pal? Then you would know that the Jews are as Caucasian as one can get, a person doesn’t have to be born and bred in Norway to have blonde hair and blue eyes. Apparently you’ve forgotten about the Greeks who’d conquered the middle east (ever hear of Alexander the Great and his men? Many of his men stayed in the country that they’d conquered and married the locals . ) and don’t forget the Celts who traveled all over and intermarried with the locals as well, even as far as India and Turkey. A man who met Our Lord’s mother ,described her as being of average height,light skinned with light brown hair and green eyes as well as being indescribably beautiful. Since Our Lord didn’t have a biological father it would be safe to assume that He looked like His mother. And as for the Italians not being Caucasian I would really like to know which Italy you’re referring to. Just because many of the populace have olive skin and dark hair and dark eyes doesn’t make them any less Caucasian, there are plenty of people in Norway who fit that description as well as in Sweden, Denmark,Holland ,Scotland ,Ireland, England, Wales ,France and the list goes on, without the peoples ancestors having left their country. If you had bothered reading the history of Italy before posting your question then you would have known that Rome was founded by the Lombards,who had come from Germany,the Lombards name meant the Red Beards because they had red hair. And the Greeks and the Celts and the Goths contributed to the future Italian gene pool as well. If you ever go to Tuscany then you would see plenty of blonde haired,blue eyed people there. Incidentally the Nazi’s didn’t think the Jews were Caucasian either which gave them a handy excuse to kill six million of them. You are obviously prejudiced against Caucasians no matter their ethnicity, you should rectify that.
On February 11th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Jesus isn’t always depicted as a white guy, just in the really famous pictures. People usually try to picture God in a way that makes it easier to identify with Him, so if you’re white, that means white.