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Race and appearance of Jesus

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There is no scholarly agreement on the race and appearance of Jesus; over the centuries, he has been depicted in a multitude of ways.

The race and appearance of Jesus have been discussed on a number of grounds since early Christianity, although the New Testament includes no description of the physical appearance of Jesus before his death and its narrative is generally indifferent to racial appearances.[1]

Despite the lack of direct biblical or historical references, from the second century, various theories about the race of Jesus were advanced and debated.[2][3] By the Middle Ages a number of documents, generally of unknown or questionable origin, had been composed and were circulating with details of the appearance of Jesus. Now these documents are mostly considered forgeries.[4][5][6] While many people have a fixed mental image of Jesus, drawn from his artistic depictions, these images often conform to stereotypes which are not grounded in any serious research on the historical Jesus, but are based on second or third hand interpretations of spurious sources.[7]

By the 19th century theories that Jesus was European, and in particular Aryan, were developed, as well as theories that he was of black African descent. However, as in other cases of the assignment of race to biblical individuals, these claims have been mostly subjective, based on cultural stereotypes and societal trends rather than on scientific analysis.[8] For two millennia a wide range of artistic depictions of Jesus have appeared, often influenced by cultural settings, political circumstances and theological contexts.[9][10] Beyond his being Jewish, there is no general scholarly agreement on the ethnicity of Jesus.[11]

Biblical references

Transfiguration by Alexandr Ivanov, 1824

The New Testament includes no description of the physical appearance of Jesus before his death. Its narrative is generally indifferent to people's racial appearance or features.[1][10][12]

The Synoptic Gospels include the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus, during which he was glorified with "his face shining as the sun." However, the Gospels do not provide details of Jesus' everyday appearance.[13][14]

The Book of Revelation describes the features of a glorified Jesus (e.g. hair white as wool, etc.) in a vision (1:13-16), but the vision refers to Jesus in heavenly form, after his death, not his appearance during his earthly life.[15][16]

Old Testament references about a coming Messiah, or Messiahs, (whom Christians believe to be Jesus) have been projected forward to form conjectures about the appearance of Jesus on theological, rather than historical, grounds; e.g. Isaiah 53:2 which refers to the coming Messiah as "no beauty that we should desire him" and Psalm 45:2-3 which describes him as "fairer than the children of men", often interpreted as his physical description.[17][18][19][20]

Early Church to the Middle Ages

Despite the lack of direct biblical or historical references, from the second century onwards various theories about the race of Jesus were advanced, e.g. by Justin Martyr, based on arguments on the genealogy of Jesus.[2] These arguments have been debated for centuries.[2][3] The second century anti-Christian philosopher Celsus wrote that Jesus was "ugly and small".[21]

The Church Fathers Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine of Hippo argued from a theological perspective that Jesus must have been ideally beautiful in face and body. For Augustine he was "beautiful as a child, beautiful on earth, beautiful in heaven".[22] These theological arguments were further extended in the 13th century by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae based on his analysis of the Perfection of Christ, reasoning that Christ must have embodied every possible human perfection.[23][24]

By the Middle Ages a number of documents, generally of unknown or questionable origin, had been composed and were circulating with details of the appearance of Jesus, as described below.

Around the 9th century, Epiphanius Monachus referred to a tall angelic figure, which has at times been interpreted as Christ, but scholars consider it an unlikely reference to Jesus.[25] Other spurious references include the Archko Volume and the letter of Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar, the descriptions in which were most likely composed in the Middle Ages.[4][5][6]

A forged letter by Publius Lentulus, the Governor of Judea, to the Roman Senate dates to around the year 1300 and, according to most scholars, was composed to compensate for the lack of any physical description of Jesus in the Bible.[10] Also in the 14th century Nicephorus Callistus quoted an unnamed antique source that described Jesus as tall and beautiful with fair, wavy hair, but his account was most likely without basis and was inspired by the prevailing artistic images of Jesus.[26]

The Islamic Hadith, collections of 8-9th century AD sayings with no scriptural ascertainment or specific authorship, describe Jesus as "reddish-white" faced.[27]

Emergence of racial theories

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.[8] 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.[28]

In his book Racializing Jesus, Shawn Kelley states that the assignment of a specific race to Jesus has been a cultural phenomenon emanating from the higher levels of intellectual circles within societies, and draws parallels between the seemingly different approaches within different settings.[29] Cain Hope Felder has argued that New Testament passages such as Galatians 3:28 express a universalism that go beyond race.[30]

A black Jesus with Nicodemus, by Tanner, 1899

By the 19th century theories that Jesus was European, and in particular Aryan, were developed and later appealed to those who wanted nothing Jewish about Jesus, e.g. Nazi theologians. Madison Grant for example claimed Jesus was of the Nordic race.[12][31][32] Houston Stewart Chamberlain claimed that Jesus was of Amorite-Germanic extraction.[33] Scholars supporting the Aryan view also argued that being a Jew by religion was distinguishable from being a Jew by race.[34] These theories usually also include the reasoning that Jesus was Aryan because Galilee was an Aryan region, but have not gained scholarly acceptance.[12][35]

The English writer Godfrey Higgins suggested in his book Anacalypsis (1836) that Jesus was a dark skinned Indian. In 1906 a German writer Theodor Plange wrote a book titled Christ-an Indian? in which he argued that Jesus was an Indian and that the Christian gospel had originated in India.[36]

By the 20th century, theories had also been proposed that Jesus was of black African descent, e.g. based on the argument that Mary his mother was a descendant of black Jews.[28][37] Martin Luther King was a proponent of the "Black Christ" movement and identified the struggle of Jesus against the authorities of the time with the struggle of African Americans in the southern parts of the United States, as he questioned why the white church leaders did not voice concern for racial equality.[37] For some, this blackness was due to Jesus's identification with black people, not the color of his skin,[37] while others such as Albert Cleage argued that Jesus was ethnically black.[38]

A study on the 2001 BBC series Son of God attempted to determine what Jesus's race and appearance may have been.[39] Assuming Jesus to be a Galilean Semite, the study concluded in conjunction with Mark Goodacre that his skin would have been "olive-coloured"[40] and "swarthy"[41]—these results were criticised by some media outlets for being "dismissive" and "dumbed down".[42][43]

In academic studies, beyond generally agreeing that "Jesus was Jewish" modern scholarship has not successfully dealt with the question of the ethnicity of Jesus.[11]

Acheiropoieta and reported visions

See also: Acheiropoieta

During the Middle Ages, a number of legendary images of Jesus began to appear, at times perhaps constructed to validate the styles of depiction of that period, e.g. the image of Edessa.[1] The Veil of Veronica was accompanied by a narrative about the Passion of Jesus.[1]

A number of descriptions of Jesus have been reported by saints and mystics who claim they have seen Jesus in a vision. Reports of such visions are more common among Roman Catholics than other Christian denominations.[44]

By the 20th century, some reports of miraculous images of Jesus began to receive significant attention, e.g. Secondo Pia's photograph of the Shroud of Turin, one of the most controversial artifacts in history. During its May 2010 exposition the shroud and its photograph of what some authors consider the face of Jesus were visited by over 2 million people.[45][46][47]

Another 20th century depiction of Jesus, namely the Divine Mercy image is based on Faustina Kowalska's reported vision, which she described in her diary as a pattern that was then painted by artists.[48] The depiction is now widely used among Catholics, and has over 100 million followers worldwide.[48][49]

Artistic portrayals

The oldest surviving Christ Pantocrator icon, 6th century, St. Catherine's Monastery.[50][51]
Main article: Depiction of Jesus
Further information: Life of Christ

Despite the lack of biblical references or historical records, for two millennia a wide range of depictions of Jesus have appeared, often influenced by cultural settings, political circumstances and theological contexts.[9][10][52] As in other Christian art, the earliest depictions date to the late second or early third century, and are primarily found in Rome.[53] In these early depictions, Jesus is usually shown as a youthful figure without a beard and with curly hair, sometimes with different features from the other men in the scenes, e.g. his disciples or the Romans.[1] However bearded depictions also appear from very early on, perhaps drawing on an existing stereotype from the Greek world of the appearance of the many itinerant charismatic philosophers.

Although some images exist at the synagogue at Dura-Europos, and such images may have been common, Judaism in theory forbade images, and its influence on the depictions of Jesus remains unknown.[9] Christian depictions of the 3rd and 4th centuries typically focused on New Testament scenes of healings and other miracles.[53] Following the conversion of Constantine in the 4th century, Christian art found many wealthy donors and flourished.[53] In this period Jesus began to have more mature features, and was shown with a beard.[1] A new development at this time was the depiction of Jesus without a narrative context, but just as a figure by himself.[1]

By the 5th century depictions of the Passion began to appear, perhaps reflecting a change in the theological focus of the early Church.[53] The 6th century Rabbula Gospels include some of the earliest images of the crucifixion and resurrection.[53] By the 6th century the bearded depiction of Jesus had become standard, both in the East and the West.[1] These depictions with reddish brown hair parted in the middle and with almond shaped eyes showed consistency for several centuries.[1] At this time various legends were developed to attempt to validate the styles of depiction, e.g. the image of Edessa and later the Veil of Veronica.[1]

The Byzantine Iconoclasm acted as a barrier to developments in the East, but by the 9th century art was again permitted.[9] The Transfiguration of Jesus was a major theme in the East and every Eastern Orthodox monk who took up iconography had to start his craft by producing the icon of the Transfiguration.[54] Whereas Western depictions aim for proportion, the abolition of perspective and alterations in the size and proportion of an image in Eastern icons aim to reach beyond man's earthly dwellings.[55]

The representation of the race of Jesus has been influenced by cultural settings.[9][52] A Chinese illustration, Beijing, 1879

The 13th century witnessed a turning point in the portrayal of the powerful Kyrios image of Jesus as a wonder worker in the West, as the Franciscans began to emphasize the humility of Jesus both at his birth and his death via the Nativity scene as well as the crucifixion.[56][57][58] The Franciscans approached both ends of this spectrum of emotions and as the joys of the Nativity were added to the agony of crucifixion a whole new range of emotions were ushered in, with wide ranging cultural impact on the image of Jesus for centuries thereafter.[56][58][59][60]

The Renaissance brought forth a number of artistic masters who focused on the depictions of Jesus and after Giotto, Fra Angelico and others systematically developed uncluttered images that focused on the depiction of Jesus with an ideal human beauty.[9] Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper which is considered the first work of High Renaissance art due to its high level of harmony became well known for depicting Jesus surrounded by varying emotions of the individual apostles at the announcement of the betrayal.[61][62]

Objections to depictions of Jesus have appeared, e.g. in 1850 John Everett Millais was attacked for his painting Christ in the House of His Parents because it was "painful" to see "the youthful Saviour" depicted as "a red-headed Jew boy".[63] The first cinematic portrayal of Jesus was in the 1897 film La Passion du Christ produced in Paris, which lasted five minutes.[64][65] Thereafter cinematic portrayals have continued to show Jesus with a beard in the standard western depiction that resembles Renaissance images.[66]

More recent artistic and cinematic portrayals have also made an effort to characterize Jesus as Middle Eastern. In the 2004 movie, The Passion of the Christ, Jesus was portrayed by Jim Caviezel who wore a prosthetic nose during filming and had his blue eyes digitally changed to brown to give him a Middle Eastern appearance. According to designer Miles Teves, who created the prosthesis: "Mel [Gibson] wanted to make the actor playing Jesus, James Caviezel, look more ethnically Middle Eastern, and it was decided that we could do it best by changing the shape of his nose."[67][68]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Robin M. Jensen "Jesus in Christian art", Chapter 29 of The Blackwell Companion to Jesus edited by Delbert Burkett 2010 ISBN 1-4051-9362-X page 477-502
  2. ^ a b c The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined by David Friedrich Strauss 2010 ISBN 1-61640-309-8 pages 114-116
  3. ^ a b Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblical Scholarship by Shawn Kelley 2002 ISBN 0-415-28373-6 pages 70-73
  4. ^ a b The Oxford companion to the Bible 1993 ISBN 0-19-504645-5 page 41
  5. ^ a b Making Sense of the New Testament by Craig L. Blomberg 2004 ISBN 0-8010-2747-0 pages 3-4
  6. ^ a b Pontius Pilate: portraits of a Roman governor by Warren Carter 2003 ISBN 0-8146-5113-5 pages 6-9
  7. ^ The forging of races: race and scripture in the Protestant Atlantic world by Colin Kidd 2006 ISBN 0-521-79324-6 pages 44-45 [1]
  8. ^ a b The forging of races: race and scripture in the Protestant Atlantic world by Colin Kidd 2006 ISBN 0-521-79324-6 page 18
  9. ^ a b c d e f Jesus: the complete guide by Leslie Houlden 2006 082648011X pages 63-100
  10. ^ a b c d The likeness of the king: a prehistory of portraiture in late medieval France by Stephen Perkinson 2009 ISBN 0-226-65879-1 page 30
  11. ^ a b Amy-Jill Levine in The Historical Jesus in Context edited by Amy-Jill Levine et al. Princeton Univ Press ISBN 978-0-691-00992-6 page 10
  12. ^ a b c The forging of races: race and scripture in the Protestant Atlantic world by Colin Kidd 2006 ISBN 0-521-79324-6 pages 48-51
  13. ^ The Cambridge companion to the Gospels by Stephen C. Barton ISBN pages 132-133
  14. ^ The Content and the Setting of the Gospel Tradition by Mark Harding, Alanna Nobbs 2010 ISBN 978-0-8028-3318-1 pages 281-282
  15. ^ Revelation by William C. Pender 1998 ISBN 0-664-22858-5 pages 14-16
  16. ^ Revelation 1-11 by John MacArthur, Jr. ISBN pages 37-39
  17. ^ The Cross of Christ by John R. W. Stott, Alister McGrath 2006 ISBN 0-8308-3320-X page 145
  18. ^ Christianity, art, and transformation by John W. De Gruchy 2001 ISBN 0-521-77205-2 page 122
  19. ^ Brother Jesus: the Nazarene through Jewish eyes by Schalom Ben-Chorin 2001 ISBN 0-8203-2256-3 page 111
  20. ^ Understanding early Christian art by Robin Margaret Jensen 2000 ISBN 0-415-20454-2 page 127
  21. ^ Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence, Eerdmans Publishing, 2000, p.66.
  22. ^ St. Augustin the Writings Against the Manicheans and Against the Donatists by St Augustine, Philip Schaff 2005 ISBN 0-7661-8394-7 page 29
  23. ^ Summa Theologica, Volume 4 (Part III, First Section) by St Thomas Aquinas 2007 ISBN 1-60206-560-8 pp. 2060-2062
  24. ^ Thomas Aquinas: theologian of the Christian life by Nicholas M. Healy 2003 ISBN 0-7546-1472-7 pages 98-101
  25. ^ The revelation of Elchasai by Gerard P. Luttikhuizen 1985 ISBN 3-16-144935-5 page 121
  26. ^ Jesus by Hartmut Miethe, Hilde Heyduck-Huth, ISBN 3-930180-21-9 Taylor & Francis page 168
  27. ^ Hadith, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 607, Narrated Abu Huraira; Volume 9, Book 88, Number 242, Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar.
  28. ^ a b The forging of races: race and scripture in the Protestant Atlantic world by Colin Kidd 2006 ISBN 0-521-79324-6 pages 43-50
  29. ^ Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblical Scholarship by Shawn Kelley 2002 ISBN 0-415-28373-6 pages ii-xi
  30. ^ Stony the Road We Trod by Cain Hope Felder 1991 ISBN 0-8006-2501-3 page 139
  31. ^ The Aryan Jesus: Christian theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany by Susannah Heschel 2008 ISBN 0-691-12531-7 page 32
  32. ^ Louis P. Masur The challenge of American history 1999, p. 319
  33. ^ [2] Hans Jonas, New York Review of Books, 1981
  34. ^ The Symbolic Jesus: Historical Scholarship, Judaism and the Construction of Contemporary Identity by William Edward Arnal 2005 ISBN 1-84553-007-1 pages 46-47
  35. ^ Jesus and the origins of Christianity by Maurice Goguel, New York, Harper, 1960 page 255
  36. ^ Jan A. B. Jongeneel Jesus Christ in world history 2009, pp.202-203
  37. ^ a b c "The Black Christ" Chapter 25 of The Blackwell Companion to Jesus edited by Delbert Burkett 2010 ISBN 1-4051-9362-X pages 410-420
  38. ^ Christology from the margins by Thomas Bohache 2009 ISBN 0-334-04058-2 page 69
  39. ^ "Why do we think Christ was white?". London: BBC News. 27 March 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  40. ^ Wilson, Giles (27 October 2004). "So what color was Jesus?". London: BBC News. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  41. ^ Selznick, Barbara J. (2007). Kamalipour, Yahya R. (ed.). "The Complete Story: Religion and Race in Global Non-Fiction Programming". Global Media Journal. 6 (11). Indiana: Purdue University Calumet. ISSN 1550-7521. OCLC 315922706. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  42. ^ Preston, John (8 April 2001). "The Dumbed Down Shall Be Raised Up". The Sunday Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media. ISSN 9976-1874. OCLC 436617201. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  43. ^ Bennett, Catherine (29 March 2001). "It's the greatest story ever told. Pity no one had a camera". The Guardian. London: Guardian Media. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 476290235. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  44. ^ Michael Freze, 1993, Voices, Visions, and Apparitions, OSV Publishing ISBN 0-87973-454-X page 91
  45. ^ Arthur Barnes, 2003 Holy Shroud of Turin Kessinger Press ISBN 0-7661-3425-3 pages 2-9
  46. ^ William Meacham, The Authentication of the Turin Shroud:An Issue in Archaeological Epistemology, Current Anthropology, Volume 24, No 3, June 1983
  47. ^ Zenit, May 5, 2010
  48. ^ a b Catherine M. Odell, 1998, Faustina: Apostle of Divine Mercy OSV Press ISBN 978-0-87973-923-2 page 165
  49. ^ Am With You Always by Benedict Groeschel 2010 ISBN 978-1-58617-257-2 page 548
  50. ^ God's human face: the Christ-icon by Christoph Schoenborn 1994 ISBN 0-89870-514-2 page 154
  51. ^ Sinai and the Monastery of St. Catherine by John Galey 1986 ISBN 977-424-118-5 page 92
  52. ^ a b Teaching Christianity: a world religions approach by Clive Erricker 1987 ISBN 0-7188-2634-5 page 44
  53. ^ a b c d e The New Westminster Dictionary of Church History by Robert Benedetto 2006 ISBN 0-8264-8011-X pages 51-53
  54. ^ The image of God the Father in Orthodox theology and iconography by Steven Bigham 1995 ISBN 1-879038-15-3 pages 226-227
  55. ^ Archimandrite Vasileios of Stavronikita, "Icons as Liturgical Analogies" in Hymn of entry: liturgy and life in the Orthodox church 1997 ISBN 978-0-88141-026-6 pages 81-90
  56. ^ a b The image of St Francis by Rosalind B. Brooke 2006 ISBN 0-521-78291-0 pages 183-184
  57. ^ The tradition of Catholic prayer by Christian Raab, Harry Hagan, St. Meinrad Archabbey 2007 ISBN 0-8146-3184-3 pages 86-87
  58. ^ a b The vitality of the Christian tradition by George Finger Thomas 1944 ISBN 0-8369-2378-2 page 110-112
  59. ^ La vida sacra: contemporary Hispanic sacramental theology by James L. Empereur, Eduardo Fernández 2006 ISBN 0-7425-5157-1 pages 3-5
  60. ^ Philippines by Lily Rose R. Tope, Detch P. Nonan-Mercado 2005 ISBN 0-7614-1475-4 page 109
  61. ^ Experiencing Art Around Us by Thomas Buser 2005 ISBN 978-0-534-64114-6 pages 382-383
  62. ^ Leonardo da Vinci, the Last Supper: a Cosmic Drama and an Act of Redemption by Michael Ladwein 2006 pages 27 and 60
  63. ^ Godwin, George, ed. (June 1, 1850). "The Royal Academy Exhiition". The Builder. 8 (382). London: Publishing Office: 255–256. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
  64. ^ The Challenge of the Silver Screen (Studies in Religion and the Arts) ISBN By Freek L. Bakker 2009 ISBN 90-04-16861-3 page 1
  65. ^ Encyclopedia of early cinema by Richard Abel2005 ISBN 0-415-23440-9 page 518
  66. ^ The Blackwell Companion to Jesus edited by Delbert Burkett 2010 ISBN 1-4051-9362-X page 526
  67. ^ Rickitt, Richard (2006). Designing Movie Creatures and Characters: Behind the Scenes With the Movie Masters (illustrated ed.). Hove: RotoVision. ISBN 978-2-940361-39-7. OCLC 475780266. Retrieved June 18, 2011. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |laydate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |laysummary= ignored (help)
  68. ^ James Caviezel was given a prosthetic nose and a raised hairline. His blue eyes were digitally changed to brown on film.

Further reading

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