How does Jesus look like?

           Eric, I like that you discussed the notion that everyone has their own vision of Christ’s appearance. This is a very interesting discussion and there is a number of people that are obsessed with the appearance of Christ. As you have stated, society should focus more on the good Christ brought to the world than his bodily and facial characteristics. That is incredibly intriguing the fact that different cultures have their own personal Jesus. Wondering why this may be and why it is popular, Christians personalize Jesus’ appearance for it allows one to have a more intimate relationship with Him. Allowing the Son of God to possess certain characteristics that you have makes him much more relatable and real.

            I questioned myself asking why society depicts Christ’s features being that of blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin and facial hair. I saw a documentary a little while ago on the History Channel that was discussing the appearance of Christ. The skull of a person who lived approximately at the same time as Christ was analyzed and the DNA showed the appearance of the man. I remember what the narrator said; it was something along the lines of “Now this may shock you.” The skull that was tested showed a man with dark hair, dark eyes, tanned skin and dark facial hair—he looked like he was Arabic. This man was to reveal what Christ looked like and He was an Arab, which is what He indeed was. This came as a shock to some but why should it for Christ was born in the Palestine of His day. When I think about the reason why Christ is envisioned to have blond hair and light features, I automatically think of Renaissance art. Renaissance art depicts Christ as a blond haired, blue eyed, fair skinned man for the artists made their Christ be what people, for example Italians, looked like at that period. Medieval art tended to represent Christ having darker features, although some artists envisioned Him with light features. The reason being why Christ in today’s society is depicted as Renaissance artists depicted Him is because of the popularity and the huge influence of Renaissance art. This is an important notion to keep in mind that the light features of Christ are relatively recent.

Medieval Image of Christ

Renaissance Image of Christ