How do we know what Jesus really looked like?

[strategery blunder]

Poll question: How do we know what Jesus really looked like?

You know what I'm talkin' about--all those portraits of Jesus that depict Him as six feet tall, white, long hair...

Please don't turn this into teh üb3r1337flam3f3st. (In case you couldn't tell, I'm Christian...)

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I figure he was "average" in the sense like um

if you took all possible eye colors and hair colors and types etc etc and mixed 'em up.. voila!

[madison2000]

2. He sat for a portrait at the Last Supper with all his buddies

[MADem]

3. He probably looked a lot like this guy, when a young man, from the same

...region...minus the sunglasses, mind you.

[Yupster]

4. Here's info I could find

It's so hard to tell what is real and what was made up generations later, so I don't think the churches are making any claims from these pieces of evidence. NOne of us knows.

Anyway, if interested ...

http://www.thenazareneway.com/likeness_of_our_saviour.htm

[AllyCat]

5. My first reaction was that's what the church says he looks like

so I had to vote for the Fundie thing (it made me laugh). What do you think they'd all say if we said he probably looked middle eastern...since he lived in the desert of Israel and all...

[BlackVelvetElvis]

6. Pastor Jack Hyles says that

Jesus had short hair.
He even had a tract with that title.
I'm sure he thinks Jesus was white too.

[madison2000]

7. There really isn't a physical description of Jesus in the Bible except to

say that there was nothing extraordinary about his appearance and giving the background that his mother was Jewish.

Different cultures tend to portray Jesus as if he were one of their own.

The most common "portrait" of Jesus that has been around about 60 years or so- where Jesus has blue eyes and longish hair- was done by someone who studied at the Art Institute in Chicago and was named Solomon, I believe:



Edit: I hate to leave you with this image, but he probably looked more like this guy than the guy above:

Al Franken, average looking Jewish guy

[jonnyblitz]

13. LMAO

sorry if i wasnt supposed to laugh but that was funny!

[madison2000]

16. it is pretty funny

and his mother Mary probably looked like this:

[jonnyblitz]

18. LOLOL

holy crap!! STOP!! :wow:

[madison2000]

20. just an ordinary Jewish girl

I had to look way back to before she straightened her hair!

[Skittles]

15. that first pic

you know he was in the bum-trip tent at Woodstock

[Beware the Beast Man]

21. Hence, he would not be a tall, wiry white dude with blue eyes.

Frankenchrist- pun intended?? :D

[madison2000]

22. pun allowed!

[moof]

8. Because Aliens took photographs and gave them to abductees

[Balbus]

9. I thought he looked like this...

[madison2000]

10. that guy looks really scary

scarier than Al Franken!

[imenja]

11. What he looks like is entirely irrelevant

Artists have typically represented Jesus as looking like those in their own culture. His appearance, actual or imagined, has nothing to do with his teachings.

[tjwmason]

27. In one sense he IS like those in the surrounding culture.

I have no problem with a depiction of Christ as white (as long as people are not so idiotic to think that he genuinely was white), and additionally no problems with him being depicted as black, or as middle-eastern, or as Japanese &c.

The whole point of the incarnation was that God became one of us, therefore it is perfectly reasonable to portray him as one of us. This is what the rennaisance painters did, and it places the incarnate Christ right among them.

There is of course the potential for trouble if a white Christ is used where there are black people &c. but the principle that Christ be depicted as being 'alongside' the 'congregation' is perfectly sound.

[hyphenate]

12. By accounts from anthropologists

the real Jesus Christ would have looked very much like anyone from the Middle East, and not at ALL as a typical WASP.

[hyphenate]

14. There was an article on this awhile ago

and here is the link to the article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1244037.stm

And here is the computer rendered portrait which they say would be what the real Christ looked like:

[madison2000]

17. and its Semitic- thats really all we can know

[More Than A Feeling]

19. self delete

picture of what I was going to describe already posted above. that will teach me to read all the posts before replying.

[Lilith Velkor]

23. I was in rehab with him, that's how I know

Nice guy, always smiling. 5'6", Latino, hair down to his chin.

[RagingInMiami]

24. Some would argue that he looks like this

[madison2000]

25. I think not!

[noonwitch]

26. It doesn't matter, but we can guess

My guess is that he had dark hair and eyes and an dark/tan skin tone. He was outdoors a lot, and people from that part of the world are darker-toned than northern europeans.