Why is jesus always portrayed as white?

Question

Wasnt he from Isreal? Forgive my ignorance if I'm wrong, he certainly wasnt from europe though, so why is he lily white in pictures?!

Answer 1

Actuallt he is from palestine. the zionist state of israel did not exist before the 1950's where european jews seeked sanctuary in palestine and eventually took over the place by stealing the guns from the british who ruled there at the time and bombing the king david hotel to make the british leave, back to the point, so that makes jesus an arab, not an aryan blonde haired blue eyed man. he is also a prophet of islam and is called isa in the koran.

Answer 2

Jesus is often - but not always - portrayed as white. I have seen some representations that are more like He would have been, typical Middle Eastern Jewish. The white, blue-eyed stereotype is not derived from American by any stretch. (Americans are all different) It comes from the religious paintings out of the Italian Renaissance era. Many of these just became icons.

Answer 3

You seem like you know the answer already. He defiantly wasn't white he was dark skinned. the place were Jesus (may Allah's peace and blessing be upon him) was born was not an area of white skinned people and Europeans were not there in abundance 2000 years ago! so how could he have been white. I think people who came after his message was brought, made people think he was white to lower the self - esteem of none white races and make people think the white race is superior to other races. Anyway whats important is his message not colour of skin and that was to worship the one true God Allah www.Harun yahya.com

Answer 4

In Britain and the USA, practically every image you see portraying Jesus Christ shows him with light hair and very pale skin - a white man. I have seen pictures from African countries that show Jesus as a black man. Obviously, culture has a lot to do with it. Each country would like to show Jesus as a native of that country.
Jesus was born at the East end of the Mediterranean, in the region of what is now Israel. It is a very hot area, and people native to that region have quite dark skin - they are certainly not caucasian (or "european white"). The idea of him being white is just a western perception.

Answer 5

Few years ago Times newspaper produced an image of the Christ according to the latest anthropological research and by using latest scientific techniques. The outcome was nothing like the ones you find in English or European churches. It was simply science that outraged many. Muslims, like myself, for example, are strongly against all engraved images especially those of holy people.

In Christianity however the image of Jesus and holy Madonna change according to the race, culture and tradition of the land. In Spain, for example, you will see that the image of Christ takes after the general complexion of the Spanish. The portrayal of Christ is, in fact, religious - to sanctify, or baptise, all related human forms according to Christian doctrine.

Answer 6

Because it has been mainly white people throughout history who have followed the Christian faith. Artists impressions are taken into account. The better western artists (renaissance) have influenced our views of Jesus.

Truth is he was a Jew in the east and was probably dark skinned but not black.

People has posted ignorant comments to this question like 'who cares, he's just fictional' which is slightly niave. Jesus is accepted in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I personally believe in Jesus as a historical figure as there are scriptures to verify this. But I am in no way religious.

Answer 7

The influence of Rome. The classical image of God, for instance, is rermarkable similar to the image of Zeus/Jupiter. No-one knows what Jesus looked like. We can, however, draw some conclusions. He was of Middle Eastern appearance and had a beard. More than that is conjecture and imagination.

Answer 8

like a few others said, jesus is portrayed in many different ways around the world. each culture imagines god to look like they do. just as god is called 'the father' back from when men controlled everything. they imagined god to be a man, like them. you can easily find paintings of jesus in all the colors of humanity, if you look.

as far as the historical man, jesus was from the midle east, and so would have features much like the middle easterners of today.

and for those who think jews are white......while they (for the most part) are today, remember that jews have been living in europe for millenia where they were raped by and also chose to intermarry with the surrounding populace.

Answer 9

I don't get it when you write lily white, do you mean really? I know Jesus is Jew and i think it doesn't matter what colour people potray him as, as long as he's ginev the honour due unto him for the marvellous work he done on the cross-saving grace. God bless

Answer 10

He isn't that colour in any pictures I've seen of Him! I really don't know why people portray Him as being white!