Black icon of all time...

In 2004, Jesus was voted greatest black icon of all time by the New Nation newspaper, which prompted a debate about Jesus' skin colour. "Despite the common depictions in Western cultures of Jesus as a blond, blue-eyed hippy looking man, all reasonable evidence points to the fact that Jesus could not have been of Scandinavian extraction and certainly was a brotha of colour," said the paper.

The debate is not new. Throughout the 20th century, black theologians argued that showing Jesus as a white-skinned European is not only historically inaccurate, but profoundly alienating for non-Europeans. Some 20 million Africans were taken as slaves to the New World by Europeans between the 16th and 19th centuries, and images of a white Jesus reinforce the idea that Christianity is a "white man's religion".

Black theologians argue that since Jesus came to bring good news to the poor and oppressed – to set them free from their chains – he should be shown looking like the poor and oppressed, and not like the world's rich and powerful.

Above, left: 'Black Jesus Blesses the children' 20th Century painting.
Right: Bill Taylor's 'Black Jesus' 1939-1942, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.



RACE OF JESUS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"Black Jesus" redirects here. For the Papua New Guinea cult leader, see Steven Tari.

The race of Jesus has been a subject of debate since at least the 19th century. The physical appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, though with no explicit emphasis on race, was also debated by theologians from early on in the history of Christianity. Different societies have depicted Jesus and most other biblical figures as their own ethnicity in their art, for example he is primarily white in the West, and black in Africa. Such representations are not, in the modern day, usually intended to be historically accurate. The current dominant opinion among secular historians and scientists is that he most likely had swarthy skin, resembling modern-day persons of Middle Eastern descent. Others, however, have suggested other possible racial backgrounds. For some Christians the question is complicated by the belief that his birth was a unique miracle, an "incarnation in flesh of divine substance."