Was Jesus white?

[Yoda Power]

Jesus was a black woman

No, infact she was native american.

 

[Halcyon]

No, infact she was native american.

Not to mention Welsh, and a lesbian. With cancer.

</bandwagon>

 

[Smellincoffee]

Christians probably invision Christ as white because the western European churches created that image. I see the disciples as white, too. Not because they were, but because that's what people tend to do if they've never see someone- imagine them as similar to themselves. I've never seen one of the apostles of old and never will, so I can imagine them any way I want.

Peter has always struck me as the type who would have fiery red hair. It suits his personality.

 

[cgannon64]

The fact that there is a debate on this is insane.

He was a Jew. The end.

 

[luiz]

He was white, but not "european white".
He probably looked somewhat like the modren arabs, who are white but not pale like the euros.

The reason why his images are usually white is quite simple. To make him look more like the "church people", that at the time when the first images were created were basically europeans.

Differences in the image of Jesus exist untill today. I noticed that in the US Jesus is usually blonde or light-haired. In Brazil he is usually dark haired. Among some african christian communities, he is portrayed almost like a black man. None of it matters, though.

 

[Perfection]

He was covered head to toe in thick hair so it really didn't matter.

 

[Halcyon]

He was covered head to toe in thick hair so it really didn't matter.

..Must resist tasteless semi-offensive Star Wars reference..

 

[HamaticBabylon]

I believe he was black . Don't know why, but there were black people in the middle east back then and he seems to possibly be one.

Not that it matters, Jesus is whatever people want him to look like for believers.

Yeah the Jesus that the church portrays to the world is really Zeus of the Greeks. The Jesus was a Black man. period.

 

[Halcyon]

Yeah the Jesus that the church portrays to the world is really Zeus of the Greeks. The Jesus was a Black man. period.

People will be saying that Cleopatra was black, next. Oh wait, they started doing that years ago. Never mind, carry on. By the way, don't forget to mention that the J-man was also gay, and possibly Welsh. You know, because semi-fictional idol figures deserve minority representation, too.

 

[NateDawgNY]

The one called Messiah was actually a Jew name Yehoshua ben-Yosef.
After Christianity became the offical religion of Rome (read Mithraism),
Yehoshua's name was changed to Jesus; and from that time on,
was portrayed as being a non-Jewish white person.

 

[anarchywrksbest]

If that was true then when they tried to crucify him why didn't he pull out a phaser and kill them or simply say "scotty beam me up" ? but now were getting

To get back on topic yes Jesus was a jewish man so he really shouldn't be portrayed as being white. Excellent point BassDude

Holograms. Jesus was actually the ships's EMH.

 

[Azadre]

The one called Messiah was actually a Jew name Yehoshua ben-Yosef.
After Christianity became the offical religion of Rome (read Mithraism),
Yehoshua's name was changed to Jesus; and from that time on,
was portrayed as being a non-Jewish white person.

Just wondering, how is Yehoshua pronounced, like it is spelled?

 

[Syterion]

I heard there was a quote in the Bible that said Jesus had skin of bronze. I don't know if it is true, I read it in a Chris Rock Comedy book.

 

[cgannon64]

The one called Messiah was actually a Jew name Yehoshua ben-Yosef.
After Christianity became the offical religion of Rome (read Mithraism),
Yehoshua's name was changed to Jesus; and from that time on,
was portrayed as being a non-Jewish white person.

I thought Jesus was just an Englishizing way of pronouncing Yeshua?

Not even english, maybe Latin, since the Latin word for Jesus is Jesu...

 

[aaminion00]

 

[CenturionV]

Yeah thats just weird, in all likely hood, jesus was a classic "brown" middleastern person, wearing classic, jewish first century clothing. not some long haired, pure white man with a beard, and dressed in flowing spotless white robes. This is probably mainly to do medeival catholic anti-semetic views of what jesus looked like.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Actually many Europeans knew what they looked like. Up until the 700s, the Arabs occupied Spain and Portugal, and they were instrumental in European trade, especially in Italy.

That doesn't change the fact that most didn't.

And you've seen the pictures of Jesus... they don't show him as white-ish, he's a snowman with a halo. Is this xenophobia on the part of the early Christians?

The early Christians were mostly Semites, so I rather doubt it.

Depicting Jesus didn't come into vogue until after a few centuries, by which time no-one really knew what he looked like. Artists in various regions tended to portray him looking much like the locals - hence he got depicted as a European white in Europe.

I think it matters. If such a central part of their religion is a lie, how can they believe the rest of it?

I think most Christians would disagree with the notion that the looks of Jesus are a central part of their religion.

@cgannon64: The Latin form for Jesus is, in the nominative, Jesus (or Iesus). Jesu is the genitive, dative, ablative and vocative from. It's a normal Latin adaption of Greek Iesous, which in turn is just the Greeky spelling of Aramaic Yeshua.

 

[TheTruth]

Christian art typically depicts Jesus as a tall white man with a beard (and a halo). However, based on where and when he was (supposedly) born, the real Jesus would more likely have been an Arabic or Semitic man, with dark features and dark hair. Why did the Christians decide to depict him as a white man if that is basically lying about the central figure of their religion?

Because the starters of Christianity were "white" therefor, their God must be "white" also. I guess it really does not matter for someone like me who sees this man as just a man and not a God. But if I went back in time 2000 years and saw Jesus and compared him to American standards than he would be labeled as a "black" man.

 

[NateDawgNY]

Originally posted by Azadre
Just wondering, how is Yehoshua pronounced, like it is spelled?

Yeah, the transliteration from the hebrew would be Ye-hosh-ua. Even though Aramaic was primarily spoken, Hebrew was still formally used.

Originally posted by cgannon64
I thought Jesus was just an Englishizing way of pronouncing Yeshua?

Actually it is a poor mis-translation (intentional) from Aramaic to Greek, and then to English.

Originally posted by CenturionV
This is probably mainly to do medeival catholic anti-semetic views of what jesus looked like.

Unfortunately, anti-Semitism in the "church" started a lot earlier than that. When the Council of Nicea convened in 325 CE, it laid the groundwork for anti-Semitism. In 341 CE the Council of Antioch prohibited Christians from celebrating Passover with the Jews. The Council of Laodicea in the same century forbade Christians from observing the Jewish Sabbath. Christians were also forbidden from receiving gifts from Jews or matza from Jewish festivals and "impieties." While this was definitely not an outright attack on Jews, it does provide a window into why anti-Semitism has plagued the "church" for so long.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Actually it is a poor mis-translation (intentional) from Aramaic to Greek, and then to English.

It's not a translation at all. It's just an attempt at writing "Yeshua" in Greek letters, with a Greek masculine nominative ending strapped on to make it work syntactically in Greek.