| Bill Moyer - 12/1/2021 13:19
Depending on when pictures were painted, or sculptures were made: Jesus has been depicted in many body types, and in many races (color of skin) throughout history. It was a way to depict him in the way "We" understand Jesus. In the past that was easily depicted in the way we look. If you look at paintings from the early churches he often was not a trim man, and his skin color was definitely not European. I think our current American images are because Christianity was very successful in early Europe and so our image of him was something that was relatable to Europeans. Since we had no real good image of what he really looked like, we made him to be what we expected to see.
Some of the African Churches have their Black Jesus, and they too would be just as wrong as our European Jesus. I suspect Jesus would have looked in real life much like a Mideastern Jew today.
Thank you for such a well thought out response that had relevant information. |