"Traditional" Image of Jesus

[MooCow]

I guess this is the place to put this...I don't really know.

You may or may not have seen it, but the Discovery Channel aired this 2-hour special a few years ago where scientists used regional demographics back through the centuries to create a facial model of what Jesus would have looked like.

Obviously, our traditional image of him is a white male with brown hair, very tall and slender.

The Discovery Channel portrayed him as a very big, gruffy-looking man with Jewish facial features (wide eyes, big nose, etc.)

The Discovery Channel made a pretty valid point when saying that if a man looking like a White Anglo-Saxon had just magically appeared in Jersualem in 5 AD, people wouldn't have willingly followed him.

What do you guys think about this? Is the "traditional" image correct or not?

 

[lionroar0]

As far as I know we don't know what he looks like. I think it would be safe to assume that he had palestinian features. This is what is refered to as the historical Jesus.

I vaguely remember the show. I don;t know if people would not have followed him if he appeared white anglo saxton.

Of course being God he could appear how ever he pleases now.

 

[The_White]

Yea, I would tend to think of him as what he was. A Jew.

Also I don't know but I would assume that after wlking from one city to the next his robe would not have been perfectly clean all the time like we seem to show.

 

[katherine2001]

I can show you an icon that is at St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai that dates from the 6th Century. Here it is:

 

[katherine2001]

This can be found at www.skete.com/moreinfo.cfm?Category=34&Product_ID=43

or you can go to www.skete.com, click on Icons, and then click on The Lord to see how he has been depicted through the centuries.

 

[MooCow]

This can be found at www.skete.com/moreinfo.cfm?Category=34&Product_ID=43

or you can go to www.skete.com, click on Icons, and then click on The Lord to see how he has been depicted through the centuries.

Yeah, that picture is what I think of when I think of Jesus, except perhaps a darker skin complexion. I personally think that Jesus was a very simple man and had some characteristics that set him apart from everyone else.

I just don't want to get to Heaven and not recognize JC when I see him

 

[lionroar0]

I just noticed that's the same monastery where they found Codex Sinaiticus

 

[lionroar0]

I'm sure there will no danger of not recognizing him.lol
That is a great icon

 

[Remus]

You may or may not have seen it, but the Discovery Channel aired this 2-hour special a few years ago where scientists used regional demographics back through the centuries to create a facial model of what Jesus would have looked like.

I saw that special and I have to agree with them and say they were probably closer to the mark than the traditional images.

 

[Oblio]

I saw that special and I have to agree with them and say they were probably closer to the mark than the traditional images.

By traditional images, I presume you mean the Sunday school books. The Traditional Eastern images have been passed down from the originals made by the hands of those who actually saw Christ.

 

[MooCow]

I'm sure there will no danger of not recognizing him.lol
That is a great icon

Hermione rocks

 

[Remus]

By traditional images, I presume you mean the Sunday school books. The Traditional Eastern images have been passed down from the originals made by the hands of those who actually saw Christ.

Probably. I don't know that I've really seen any "Traditional Eastern" images. At the risk of hijacking this thread, would you be willing to post some links to some images? You've got me curious now

 

[InnerPhyre]

The Pantocrator is my favorite image of Jesus. Just beautiful.

 

[Oblio]

[c]

[/c]

Date: 6th c.
Location: St. Catherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai
Style: Encaustic
Heritage: Byzantine

 

[lionroar0]

awsome!!!

 

[The_White]

Actually we do that to a lot more than Jesus (westernifying, is that a word?)

My OT text book had a picture of Moses carrying the 10 commandments. I noticed the following problems with the picture.
1) Moses had distinctly white skn
2) Moses had Roman features
3) Moses was wearing Roman robes
4) the Roman robes were colored in dyes that origionated in the Roman era
5) the tablets had I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X on them to show that they were the 10 commandments.

Go figure.

 

[katherine2001]

I love the Pantocrator also. In an Eastern Orthodox church (if they've built their own church and didn't buy a church that was originally something else), there will be a dome (often called onion domes) with that icon (Christ the Pantocrator) painted on the ceiling of the dome, to show that Christ is over all.

 

[InnerPhyre]

I love the Pantocrator also. In an Eastern Orthodox church (if they've built their own church and didn't buy a church that was originally something else), there will be a dome (often called onion domes) with that icon (Christ the Pantocrator) painted on the ceiling of the dome, to show that Christ is over all.

Awesome. Love it.

 

[servant4ever]

Jesus was probably multi-racial and He surely didn't look rich and handsome so He would stick out. He was an ordinary man for that time period.

 

[MooCow]

Jesus was probably multi-racial and He surely didn't look rich and handsome so He would stick out. He was an ordinary man for that time period.

Jesus was pure God, not multi-racial.