Alas, and was My Savior White? Did My Sovereign Dye?
by: Rev. DanInteresting article from Newsweek: How White Was My Savior?
Why has the portrayal of Jesus in art drifted far from the likelihood he was a brown-skinned Semitic Jew?
Shopping for nativity scenes? At Macy’s you have two options to choose from: “The Vatican Edition” and “The Byzantine Edition.” The first comes with a set of white figurines, including a red-headed Mary, a brown-haired Joseph and a blue-eyed baby Jesus. In the second, all three are black, as are the shepherd and three wise men. Both cost $10, and more than likely, both are historically inaccurate.
While we can never be exactly sure of what Jesus, Mary and Joseph actually looked like, we know they were not fair-skinned, flaxen-haired Europeans. And, though an emerging fringe of historians would argue otherwise, it’s fairly certain they weren’t black Africans. In all likelihood, what they were was something in between: olive-skinned, dark-featured Semitic Jews living in Israel. Yet depictions of them as such are exceedingly rare compared to the countless number of images that have proliferated through the millennia portraying them as Caucasians.
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So, how did we end up with a popularized image of Jesus that common sense tells us is not accurate? For starters, the New Testament is conspicuously devoid of any detailed physical description of Jesus—in the Book of Revelation, his hair is compared to wool and his feet described as the color of burned brass. This largely blank slate has essentially allowed us to imagine him as we wish, which is exactly what we’ve done.
The mainstreaming of a white Jesus began in earnest during the early Middle Ages in Europe, a time and place where darkness had a powerfully negative connotation. Eighth and ninth century European theologians, obsessed with the symbolism of the Passion, began ascribing blame to the Jews. As such, Judas and King Herod and eventually Pontius Pilate came to be represented in dark, sinister hues while Jesus became increasingly white.
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