Revisiting Christian Art History In Discussions To 'Cancel White Jesus'
Many Americans often assume that Jesus looked like the image above—a white American—because it was reproduced millions of times and distributed nationally.
What does Jesus look like?
Most American Christians may first think of a fair-skinned Jesus with flowing brunette hair, soft blue eyes and glowing skin. The impression comes from Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ,” which was copyrighted in 1941 and originally created to evangelize Swedish-American youth.
Sallman’s image was reproduced about 500 million times before the end of the 20th century in “cards bearing devotional texts; and on greeting cards, church bulletins, clocks, lamps, buttons, and funeral announcements,” and other simple, inexpensive products, fully working its way into the American mind.
But for some time now, both Christians and non-Christians have been working to dismantle the conception of Jesus as a white man, preferring to focus on his Middle Eastern and Jewish heritage. In 2001, in the BBC documentary “Son of God,” forensic anthropologist Richard Neave created a computer model of what a man of Jesus’ age would have looked like in Galilee at the time. It was based on a skull that was found in the region.
With the toppling and removal of statues and images believed to be racist, depictions of “white Jesus” are facing a wave of fresh criticism.
Activist Shaun King called for the removal of depictions of Jesus, tweeting: “Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been.”
Church leaders have also emphasized the importance of reconsidering Jesus’ portrayal as white.
Jesuit priest and editor of America Magazine James Martin says that “images of White Jesus have obviously been used to promote the idea that white is best. And in many representations of Jesus, especially in stained glass, he is not only white, but the purest white—whiter than anyone else. It’s terrible catechesis. And that has the most terrible effects on people who do not look like that.”
Martin also points out that he has no interest in “canceling” or removing images of a white Jesus, but says instead that white Christians should understand what Jesus realistically looked like and should regard ethnically different representations of Jesus as important as their own.
On BBCRadio 4 on June 26, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby agreed that it was time to revisit the portrayal of Jesus in response to King’s tweets. He also pointed out that, particularly in the Anglican church, Jesus is portrayed in a variety of ways—Black, Middle Eastern, Fijian and more—and this doesn’t mean any images from the past should be thrown out.
“But I do think saying ‘that’s not the Jesus who exists, that’s not who we worship’ [is useful],” he said. “It is a reminder of the universality of the God who became fully human.”
This is what seems to be missing from the discussion of those who want to “cancel” white Jesus: portrayals of Christ have varied in ethnicity and cultural significance for the span of art history. The artist’s intention was often to make Jesus a more relatable figure to the audience or to convey a certain theological message. Western, white depictions may have ingrained themselves in American culture, but these are far from the first images to show Jesus in a way that reflects their culture.
Here are some of the most popular historical representations of Jesus worldwide:
Jillian Cheney is a Poynter-Koch fellow for Religion Unplugged who loves consuming good culture and writing about it. She also reports on American Protestantism and Evangelical Christianity. You can find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.