what is Jesus Christs ethnicity ?

Question

ok so jesus christ was born in bethlahem and people that live there are palestinian christians
so does that make jesus palestinian?
Jesus is middle eastern in fact thats what i know

please don;t be mean or anything

i'm just asking a question

but does he count as middle eastern???

Answer 1

He was Jewish - so Olive skin & dark hair.

A big difference from the tall blond image projected...
.

Answer 2

Jesus was / is Jewish.

His actual given name is Yeshua Ben Yusef (Joshua, son of Joseph). The name "Jesus" is actually a Hellenized (Greek) adaptation of Joshua, that has come down to us over the centuries. "Christ" is from the Greek "kristos" and means "the Anointed One". Why Greek language? Greek was actually the international language of commerce, learned discourse, and a bridge of sorts between differing ethnic groups in the Middle East of Jesus' time. Jesus Himself likely spoke Aramaic, but probably spoke Greek also as most people could.

We know that Jesus was Jewish from the accounts in the Bible. For example, after He was born, His parents took Him to the Temple to be circumcised and purified according to the Jewish Law. It's in the New Testament - give it a read ;-)

Edit:

As some others have noted here, the terms "Middle Eastern" and "Palestinian" are actually of recent origin and apply more to the political situation of today than in Jesus' time. That area of the world was different then politically and culturally. The political power was with the Roman Empire, who ruled Judea and Samaria (what we now call Palestine or Israel). As I mentioned earlier, the most widely spoken and understood language was actually Greek - what was later to be known as the Eastern Roman Empire was Greek in language and culture. The West was Latin. The Gospels and the Septuagint (the translation of the Old Testament that early Christians used) were both written in Greek. Each ethnic group had it's own character and customs though. All however were considered subjects of Rome, subject to Roman rule and law.

Answer 3

Jesus was born and raised Jewish. period.


what is 'the old black book'

national borders? LOL...

A person who is born into the Jewish traditions is a Jew, regardless of what "Nation" he was born. Remember the Holocost that happened under the direction of Adolf Hitler? That was against Jews born in Germany... a Jew is a Jew, and Jesus was a Jew...

He came to give the Jews the second to the last chance of repentance... The final chance is coming...

Now, Maya, the above sqabs were ment for some of the other answeres,

Does Jesus qualify as Middle Eastern -- No. Reason being that at his time it was not middle Eastern, it was a provence of Rome, the single Major Power of the world. Pilate was the Governor of Jerusalem... Still, there ws not Middle Eastern in that time... the reference therefore is only valid for people born post 1776ish.

Answer 4

Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jew. Palestine was Jewish back then. Jews are Middle Eastern, and if they're not born there, they're of Middle Eastern descent.

Someone said he was 6 ft tall. Human fossils back then were shorter on average. Their skulls were also sturdy, so he was most likely short with strong facial features, dark wavy/curly hair, dark eyes with an olive complexion.

CNN.com
From science and computers, a new face of Jesus
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/12/25/face.jesus/index.html

Answer 5

Ethnicity is one of the most elusive and difficult aspects of social structures to define, but it also is one of the most fundamental and, at times, important.

The English word "Ethnicity" comes from ehe Greek word "ethnos" which can be translated "tribe" or "nation". It refers to the social group and culture to which a person belongs.

Jesus, the son of Joseph, was born to a Mother who was Hebrew. By definition, that makes him a Hebrew. He was accepted into his local Hebrew community. His physical looks were never reliably reported in detail.

Politically, he was not a Palestinian, but a Galilean. The language he spoke in everyday business was Aramaic. He could at least read Hebrew (which is written with the same alphabet characters as Aramaic). At the time of his birth, Galilee was a providence of Roman Empire. This would also make him a Roman citizen.

The concepts of Palestine and the Middle East are much later than the time period in which he lived and do not apply to him as a historical person.

Answer 6

Jesus was born a Jew, a descendant of King David, born in Bethlehem, from Nazareth, was hailed as king and rejected by his own people, and had his garments gambled for while being crucified.

All eight of these occurances were prophesied of the Christ well before He, Jesus, the baby, was born.

Just for fun:

The following probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner in Science Speaks (Moody Press, 1963) to show that coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability. Stoner says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies, 'we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 17th." That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that "we take 10 to the 17th silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep.
"Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man."

Stoner considers 48 prophecies and says, "we find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10 to the157th, or 1 in
100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
The estimated number of electrons in the universe is around 10 to the 79th. It should be quite evident that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies by accident."

Over 100 Messianic prophesies were fulfilled in Christ.

Answer 7

No, Jesus isn't "Palestinian". It wasn't called Palestine during this time so it would be anarchistic to called him "Palestinian". He was Jewish. A Gailalean.

Answer 8

Jesus WAS a Jew, not Palestinian, he was Hebrew. There was no Palestine at the time. Jesus was NOT a Christian. He was probably fairly dark skinned, with black hair, brown eyes.

Answer 9

He is God made man to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin and redemption. His earthly ethnicity is Jew. He is of the house of David. The Jews are God's chosen people the Gentiles (those not born Jew) are adopted into the family by the blood of Jesus.

Answer 10

The bible clearly states that Jesus was Jewish! He isn't black, he isn't white. Jesus looked Italian, Black curly hair, dark brown eyes, medium skin pigment. A 6 ft tall muscle man. He done carpentry by hand, the man had muscles! He probably always had a smile of kindness on his face with a raidiant glow. Kind loving eyes, gentle and warm. He always had that "far off" look in his eyes, cause he talked to God alot.

Answer 11

of course Jesus (may pace be upon him) is middle Eastern he was a Hebrew-Aramaic