At work today, there was a news report on Good Morning America about a documentary coming to the History channel. This documentary will use the Shroud of Turin, and Graphic Artists to reconstruct what Jesus's face actually looked like. Of course, Good Morning America did not reveal the finished product.
Stop reading here if you don't want to get into a 'controversial' debate, or are going to consider what I am about to write blasphemous.
During the report, there were clips from the documentary featuring the artists, short and rough comments on how they are able to remake Jesus's face through how the cloth laid on him, and brief looks at how the artists were working on it. Disregard the idea that the Shroud of Turin MIGHT be a fake. While there is a possibility that Jesus was not wrapped in that shroud, or that it's not the correct shroud, this is not the point of this blog.
The point of this blog is...Why is Jesus shown as a Caucasian?
First and foremost, I think this discredits a piece of what the documentary is trying to achieve, because instead of using details from the cloth, there is a bias present. It's a relatively new concept that Jesus might not have been Caucasian. I'm not saying the people working on this project are racist, but I am saying it seems like they are pulling from some form of personal image of what they think Jesus may have looked like. Granted, I have not seen this documentary. But in the end, I think the only way to really do it justice, is give the final product a change in skin color, to represent the dominant racial skin color in the area at the time.
Doing some research, it's not totally inconceivable that there are people of lighter skin tone during the time of Jesus. Slavery is something that had taken place all over the known world. Vikings would typically enslave anyone who they conquered militarily. According to the History of Slavery post on Wikipedia.com, 25% of the Roman Empire's population, and 30% - 40 % of Italy were slaves. Considering how far reaching the Roman Empire was, and the far reach of Alexander The Great's rule, it is entirely possible that at some point in time, slaves from other parts of the world could be brought into other lands. Could it be that Joseph's and Mary's ancestors were slaves, that somehow escaped/were liberated from their slave titles, in order to become free people? Sure. Likely? Not sure if I buy into that.
According to biblical lore, Mary was a virgin and was impregnated by the Holy Ghost. So Joseph had nothing to do with the birth. OK, take him out of the picture. Now, in the Bible that I have next to me, it states that David was going to divorce Mary because she was pregnant. An angel informed him that Mary is pregnant with the Holy Spirit, and will give birth to God, and that she has committed no sin. OK, so he believes the angel. But now I ask...If Joseph and Mary were not Caucasian, would Jesus still be born as a Caucasian? I'm going to say no. There are some people in this day and age who still disapprove of interracial marriages and dating. So imagine what would have happened if Joseph and Mary both were of a Middle Eastern descent, and Jesus was born as a Caucasian? Scandalous! Or even reverse it, Joseph and Mary were Caucasian, and Jesus was born Middle Eastern. Even though neither parent really had a hand in the creation of Baby Jesus, I hardly believe that God would leave them flapping in the wind with a baby not of the same race as them. That being said, you can only assume that Jesus was of the same racial make up of at least Mary, take out interracial coupling because this is March of 0 B.C. and most likely, at the worst, it was frowned upon (to put it lightly.)
The last possible solution as to why Jesus could have been Caucasian would be that Joseph and Mary's ancestors were in fact some form of nobility coming from Italy or Greece. This would allow them to travel to the new areas occupied by the Roman and Greek Empires, settle down in an area like the Middle East, and lay down their roots. Considering, babies born to slaves were then dubbed slaves them selves, I have a very difficult time finding a way for someone to break out of slavery one way or another, and be anything BUT a beggar.
I'm not saying Jesus WASN'T white. But I do want to know where the stereotype of a Caucasian Jesus comes from. Why is he Caucasian? Why is he not African-American? Why is he not Italian, or Greek? He could even be part Scandinavian for that matter. But where is it set in stone that Jesus HAS to be Caucasian?
