Black Lives Matter versus All Lives Matter

growstuff

I am neither Christian nor black, so I don't really have any personal views on the matter, but I'd be interested to know what Christians of any ethnicity other than white think. I just find it a little strange that a statue of Jesus in Ethiopia should represent him as a white person. It would be easy to see a hidden message.

I’m a white Christian. I’ve thought for years how strange he was depicted as white when he very likely was not

I did a little research on this. It would appear that centuries ago Jesus was depicted as a black man/baby with black, curly hair in Ethiopian pictures. There are quite a few ancient examples.

It was the same in other countries in Africa and round the world. Jesus was depicted with the physical characters of the region where he was being worshipped.

It wasn't until European colonialisation and the arrival of missionaries that Jesus began to be depicted as having pale skin, European features, a beard and long hair with a central parting. Such images became common in the European Renaissance.

You are forgetting - the virgin birth !

It was a Syrian Christian who first introduced Chrisianity to Ethiopa in about 400 AD. Before that there was Judaism and other faiths. The Ethiopian Jews have lived there for centuries.

Christians kneel before a gold cross in many churches, they
don’t believe Christ was crucified on a gold cross.

The painting by Hunt in St.Paul’s ‘The Light Of The World’
and his painting ‘The Shadow Of Death’ does portray a white
Christ.

Yes, they claim to be descended from the tribes of Israel (Ethiopia) if memory serves me well.

Hmm, not convinced.

Rather like the features of the statue.

The statue is white marble so impossible to tell.

As for European features - why would you assume that all Europeans look the same, just as all Africans can differ greatly.

Many Ethiopians have lighter, olive skin and longer face with Semitic, aquiline features.

I am neither Christian nor black, so I don't really have any personal views on the matter, but I'd be interested to know what Christians of any ethnicity other than white think. I just find it a little strange that a statue of Jesus in Ethiopia should represent him as a white person. It would be easy to see a hidden message.

Regardless of what Jesus actually looked like, since we are taught God created Man in his own image - shouldn't we have statues that represent people of all shapes, sizes and colours? Isn't it more about what the statue symbolises than historical accuracy now?
Shouldn't we be thinking that we are all brothers and sisters and celebrating our differences in appearance rather than fighting over the appearance of Jesus?

Who did those paintings?

Ethiopia has one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. Today, Christianity is still the biggest religion in Ethiopia. This is a statue of Jesus in Addis Ababa. I think it's probably white marble, so it's difficult to know what colour his skin is supposed to be, but he does have very European features. If I were a black Ethiopian Christian, I might wonder why a white European should be representing a brown-skinned Middle Eastern.

lemongrove

Yes growstuff so my Welsh friend tells me ....in fact she does look very Spanish.

I thought everyone knew that, growstuff!
Most portrayals of Jesus were from paintings from centuries ago.

lemongrove my Welsh friend looks Cypriot and has been mistaken for a local woman when we were in Cyprus.
A Cornish friend had a Spanish surname originating from centuries ago.

We are all Heinz 57 varieties.

Another family member ( also North Yorks) looks a dead ringer for a Viking, including pale skin, high cheekbones and redgold hair.He is even called Eric.?

It is very interesting, my step Father looked very ‘Roman’ short and dark skinned, black hair, he was from North Yorkshire near the coast, where lots of Romans did settle.

lemongrove

Yes growstuff so my Welsh friend tells me ....in fact she does look very Spanish.

I have a Welsh friend who also looks very "Spanish". He's done loads of research about the genetic origins of Welsh people, which is how I'd ever heard about it. It's possible that most of the people in what are now the British Isles had similar looks, but they were ethnically cleansed by the Saxons.

The Romans also brought people of all sorts of ethnicities to most parts of Britain.

Yes growstuff so my Welsh friend tells me ....in fact she does look very Spanish.

lemongrove There were migrations from Portugal and parts of Spain in Mesolithic and Neolithic times. Even today, many Welsh have genes from the Iberian peninsula and South West France.

Callistemon I don't suppose Jesus had black African looks either, but he almost certainly didn't have white European looks, which is how he's most often portrayed.

hugshelp, the anti-slavery organisation has a poster which reads:
We didn't say ONLY Black Lives matter.

Think that works.

Thanks, Hugshelp, that's just what I said on page 1.

I have a good friend who is Welsh, and she gets asked which country she is from all the time.?She has Welsh dark looks complete with black hair.

Ah, you really know your New Testament Callistemon?
Yes,
Jesus would have looked middle eastern.It doesn’t matter if any ethnic group choose to portray him as they look themselves ( as long as they don’t start asking for a certain colour to be taken away....as Shaun King is doing).He can have whatever he likes in his own church.

I'm not arguing.

Being of the House of David he was probably not of East African origins.

Ethnically he was Middle Eastern well, yes. Most likely like a Semite of Galilee.

Callistemon

Well, he was Jewish!!

Judaism is a religion. Jews have all sorts of skin colours, including black in East Africa. Ethnically, he was Middle Eastern, so it would be surprising if he had white skin.

PS. Shaun King is also a Christian pastor.