The Germanic looking Jesus - why is this?

Jump to Last Post 1-3 of 3 discussions (4 posts)
  1. John Sarkis profile image82
    John Sarkisposted 12 years ago

    The Germanic looking Jesus - why is this?

    I've noticed that Mohamed is always portrayed as a Persian looking man; the Buddha is always portrayed as an Asian looking man; however, Jesus is sometimes portrayed as a Germanic looking man (Germanic Peoples  - English, Scottish, German, etc), even though he was supposedly a Semite.

  2. phdast7 profile image83
    phdast7posted 12 years ago

    Very interesting question.   I am certainly not a Biblical Scholar or theologian, but several historically based issues come to mind.   (1)   For a long time illustrations of Jesus tended to reflect the late medieval style in art and also  the style or styles dominant in Catholic Europe (olive skinned Mediterraneans, perhaps).   

    (2)   I am not personally familiar with the pictures in early protestant Bibles, most of which were originally printed in Germany, many thanks to Guttenberg and his students, but it is safe to assume that they probably reflected Germanic physical types since they were being printed and distributed in Germany and other countries (Scotland, England) which would soon be protestant. 

    (3)  The real key might lie with the King James Bible, KJV, published in 1611, in English which would have been the Bible most Protestant settlers of North America would have owned.   (between 650 and 1800 about 75% of the immigrants to the US were protestant)   So whatever pictures of Jesus appeared in the KJV, probably Germanic in appearance, would have become the dominant representation of Christ.

    However, there were and still are modern translations of the Bible (beginning in the mid twentieth century)  whose authors purposefully used illustrations that reflected the Semitic ethnicity and appearance of Jesus and his followers.

  3. Teylina profile image60
    Teylinaposted 12 years ago

    Have to put in my 2cnts. I, too, have often wondered why he is depicted the way he is. He was perfect: the son of the Almighty God of every person, Jewish to the bone by reason of prophetic heritage, and only 33 years old when he died. Yet, he is almost always depicted "Germanic" as I understand your meaning (Non-racial), emaciated to the body of an old man, and the face of one. Yes, what he went through is horrendous, but I cannot help but belief he was nothing like most of the pictures we're subject to. Even with his torture, he would appear much younger, Jewish and close to perfection beyond the torture.

    1. John Sarkis profile image82
      John Sarkisposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Malcolm X, harped on this question as well.  He said that Jesus may have actually looked like him?  Who knows, he may have been correct.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)