The Likeness of Jesus
Russ T. Nale
Sightings 3/9/06
The Likeness of Jesus
-- David Morgan
Today one finds pictures of Jesus everywhere -- in books and magazines, on
television and the internet. But the profusion of images of Jesus is
nothing new. Beginning as early as the late third century, the Nazarene
miracle-worker appeared on carved Roman coffins. In fourth-century Rome,
or more accurately, beneath fourth-century Rome, in the dank and sprawling
galleries of the catacombs, Jesus first appeared in portrait imagery on
frescoed walls and vaults. Mosaic imagery followed soon after. As
Christianity's status eventually rose from marginal and foreign cult to
the official religion of the state, the visual apparatus of ritual and
worship developed apace. Sometimes Jesus appears with the bare, round
face of Apollo, whose cult he rivaled in the upper reaches of
fifth-century Roman society. Elsewhere he is depicted as a tunic-clad
philosopher seated among his disciples; or sometimes with beard and long
hair, looking like sculptured philosopher portraits of the day; or like
Jupiter or Mithras (a Persian sun deity) or Asclepius (son of Apollo and
the god of healing) -- all rivals whose iconography waged Roman and
Byzantine culture wars.
After late antiquity the iconography continued to evolve, relentlessly
enfolding inherited images of Jesus into local visual garb to achieve
updated versions that spoke to newly converted Christians. In the process,
his appearance took on ethnic color and regional features. Jesus went
from being a Greek philosopher to a French monarch or an Italian friar.
In these constant reincarnations he assumed the appearance of whomever it
was that cherished his image, which meant among other things that he
almost never looked Jewish.
From the early church to the present, missionaries have taken icons and
devotional images around the world with them. These portraits have served
as bridges between cultures. Asian and African Christs emerged from the
sixteenth century to the twentieth. Black Christs became part of the
political agenda of racial liberation in the American civil rights
movement, and Christ as a woman registered the aims of feminist Christians
who challenged masculinist conceptions of the Christian message. Only a
few days after the national celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
birthday, it was announced that African American rapper Kanye West would
pose on the cover of Rolling Stone with a crown of thorns, evoking Mel
Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ, but also King's own axiom,
"suffering is redemptive." Some were offended by the cover, dismissing it
as a shameless PR stunt. But is it inconceivable that in addition to the
commerce of selling music, the image also conveys the artist's faith?
The long history of images of Jesus as a white man ensures that portraying
him as Black or Asian or as a woman still has an edge. So what does the
likeness of Jesus mean in this dizzying spectrum of images? Since no one
drew his picture from life (notwithstanding the old claim that Luke was an
artist who did so), aren't all images of Jesus mere fiction in service of
something sinister -- such as the hegemony of race, gender, or national or
ethnic identity? The website Rejesus, operated by several Christian
organizations and denominations in Great Britain, offers a range of visual
portrayals of Jesus and invites viewers to vote for their favorite image.
Voting is tallied instantly and visitors can see how their selections
compare to those of hundreds of others.
The range of images displayed at the website is telling. Jesus shows up
as Che Guevara; as a Black Caribbean man; as a Caucasian with his head
thrown back in laughter; as the actor Robert Powell, who portrayed Jesus
in the well-known 1977 film Jesus of Nazareth; as the ghostly image of the
Shroud of Turin; as an early Byzantine icon; and many more. The images
have been culled to register the great diversity of theological and
political ideals, all of which correspond to one element or another
belonging to the "portrait" of Jesus found in the New Testament gospels.
In the end, one suspects that the likeness of Jesus is not simply his
appearance, but what his image shows him to be like. That is, portraying
the likeness of Jesus is the act of glimpsing whomever one believes him to
be. By tailoring the racial and ethnic features of the face to one's own
group, believers fashion an intimate and immediate connection with Jesus.
To some, this will always appear ethnocentric or even racist -- and
perhaps it is. But it may also be more than that, since the impulse to
identify with Jesus goes to the heart of devotion to him.
David Morgan is Duesenberg Professor of Christianity and the Arts and of
Humanities and Art History at Valparaiso University, and author of The
Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice.
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--
Russ T. Nale
God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com
To send e-mail, remove "youhat" from address
SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim
>
>
> Sightings 3/9/06
>
> The Likeness of Jesus
> -- David Morgan
>
> Today one finds pictures of Jesus everywhere -- in books and magazines, on
-----> and don't forget in the shit I took this morning.
linny
enables people to connect with Him. I don't find it racist although I
did find it a little odd until I read your posting. It all seems clear
now.