The race and appearance of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
has been a topic of discussion since the days of
early Christianity
Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...
. Various theories about the
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
of Jesus have been proposed and debated.
[''Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblical Scholarship'' by Shawn Kelley 2002 pages 70–73] By the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, a number of documents, generally of unknown or questionable origin, had been composed and were circulating with details of the appearance of Jesus. These documents are now mostly considered forgeries.[''The Oxford companion to the Bible'' 1993 page 41][''Making Sense of the New Testament'' by Craig L. Blomberg 2004 pages 3–4][''Pontius Pilate: portraits of a Roman governor'' by Warren Carter 2003 pages 6–9]
A wide range of depictions have appeared over the two millennia since Jesus's death, often influenced by cultural settings, political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
circumstances and theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
contexts. The depiction of Jesus
The depiction of Jesus in pictorial form dates back to early Christian art and architecture, as aniconism in Christianity was rejected within the ante-Nicene period.Philip Schaff commenting on Irenaeus, wrote, 'This censure of images as a Gnos ...
in art of the first Christian centuries gradually standardized his appearance with a short beard. These images are often based on second- or third-hand interpretations of spurious sources, and are generally historically inaccurate.
By the 19th century, theories that Jesus was non- Semitic were being developed, with writers suggesting he was variously white, black, Indian, or some other race other than those known to have been native to the Levant. However, as in other cases of the assignment of race to biblical individuals, these claims have been mostly based on cultural stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and societal trends rather than on scientific analysis or historical method
Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be drawn ...
.
Historical appearance
Research on ancient skeletons in Palestine suggests that Judeans of the time were biologically closer to Iraqi Jews
The history of the Jews in Iraq ( he, יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים, ', ; ar, اليهود العراقيون, ) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and mo ...
than to any other contemporary population, according to specialist biohistorian Yossi Nagar. Thus in terms of physical appearance the average Judean of the time would have likely had dark brown to black hair, olive skin
Olive skin is a human skin colour spectrum. It is often associated with pigmentation in the Type III to Type IV and Type V ranges of the Fitzpatrick scale. It generally refers to light or moderate tan skin, and it is often described as having ...
, and brown eyes. Judean men of the time period were on average about in height. Scholars have also suggested that it is likely Jesus had short hair and a beard, in accordance with Jewish practices of the time and the appearance of philosophers. The earliest depictions of Jesus from the Roman catacombs depict him as free of facial hair.
Historians have speculated over how Jesus's ascetic and itinerant lifestyle and work as a (Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
for an artisan/craftsman, typically a carpenter), with the manual labour and exposure to the elements that entailed, affected his appearance. It has been suggested that Jesus likely had a lean appearance.
Biblical references
The Old Testament
Old Testament references which are interpreted by Christians as being about a coming messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
have been used to form conjectures about the appearance of Jesus. Isaiah 53:2 refers to the scourged messiah with "no beauty that we should desire him" and Psalm 45:2–3 describes him as "fairer than the children of men". These passages are often interpreted as Jesus' physical description.
The New Testament
In the Gospels
The New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
includes no descriptions of Jesus's appearance before his death, and the gospel narratives are generally indifferent to people's racial appearance or features.[Robin M. Jensen "Jesus in Christian art", Chapter 29 of ''The Blackwell Companion to Jesus'' edited by Delbert Burkett 2010 page 477–502][''The likeness of the king: a prehistory of portraiture in late medieval France'' by Stephen Perkinson 2009 page 30]
The synoptic gospels include the account of the transfiguration of Jesus
In the New Testament, the Transfiguration of Jesus is an event where Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels (, , ) describe it, and the Second Epistle of Peter also refers to it ().
In these ...
, during which he was glorified with "His face shining as the sun".[''The Cambridge companion to the Gospels'' by Stephen C. Barton ISBN pages 132–133][''The Content and the Setting of the Gospel Tradition'' by Mark Harding, Alanna Nobbs 2010 pages 281–282] but this appearance is considered to refer to Jesus in majestic, transfigured form.
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...
includes John's vision of the Son of Man:
This vision is usually considered to refer to Jesus in heavenly form, not his appearance during his earthly life.
Literary traditions
Early Church to the Middle Ages
Despite the lack of direct biblical or historical references, from the 2nd century onward, various theories about the appearance of Jesus were advanced. However, these focused more on his physical appearance than on his specific race or ancestry. Larger arguments of this kind have been debated for centuries.
Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr ( el, Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, Ioustinos ho martys; c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher.
Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and ...
argued for the genealogy of Jesus
The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham, while Luke begins with Adam. The lists are identical between Abraham and David, but ...
in the biological Davidic line from Mary, as well as from his non-biological father Joseph.[''The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined'' by David Friedrich Strauss 2010 pages 114–116] However, this only implies a general Jewish ancestry, acknowledged generally by authors.
The focus of many early sources was on the physical unattractiveness of Jesus rather than his beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
. The second-century anti-Christian philosopher Celsus
Celsus (; grc-x-hellen, Κέλσος, ''Kélsos''; ) was a 2nd-century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. His literary work, ''The True Word'' (also ''Account'', ''Doctrine'' or ''Discourse''; Greek: grc-x-hellen, Λόγ ...
wrote that Jesus was "ugly and small" and similar descriptions are presented in a number of other sources as discussed extensively by Robert Eisler
Robert Eisler (27 April 1882 – 17 December 1949) was an Austrian Jewish polymath who wrote about the topics of mythology, comparative religion, the Gospels, monetary policy, art history, history of science, psychoanalysis, politics, astrology ...
,[Eisler, Robert. ''The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist''. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1931.] who in turn often quotes from Ernst von Dobschütz
Ernst Adolf Alfred Oskar Adalbert von Dobschütz (9 October 1870 – 20 May 1934) was a German theologian, textual critic, author of numerous books and professor at the University of Halle, the University of Breslau, and the University of Strasbou ...
' monumental . Tertullian
Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...
states that Jesus's outward form was despised, that he had an ignoble appearance, and the slander he suffered proved the 'abject condition' of his body. According to Irenaeus
Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...
, he was a weak and inglorious man, and in the Acts of Peter
The Acts of Peter is one of the earliest of the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Christianity, dating to the late 2nd century AD. The majority of the text has survived only in the Latin translation of the Codex Vercellensis, under the title ...
he is described as small and ugly to the ignorant. Andrew of Crete
Andrew of Crete ( el, , c. 650 – July 4, 712 or 726 or 740), also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was an 8th-century bishop, theologian, homilist,A list of forty of his discourses, together with twenty-one edited sermons, is given in ''Patrologi ...
relates that Christ was bent or even crooked and in the Acts of John
The ''Acts of John'' refers to a collection of stories about John the Apostle that began circulating in written form as early as the 2nd-century AD. Translations of the ''Acts of John'' in modern languages have been reconstructed by scholars from ...
he is described as bald-headed and small with no good looks.
As quoted by Eisler, both Hierosolymitanus and John of Damascus claim that "the Jew Josephus" described Jesus as having had connate eyebrows with goodly eyes and being long-faced, crooked and well-grown. In a letter of certain bishops to the Emperor Theophilus, Jesus's height is described as 3 cubits (four foot six), which was also the opinion of Ephrem Syrus (320–379 AD): "God took human form and appeared in the form of three human ells (cubits); he came down to us small of stature." Theodore of Mopsuestia
Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350 – 428) was a Christian theologian, and Bishop of Mopsuestia (as Theodore II) from 392 to 428 AD. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate. He is the best know ...
likewise claimed that the appearance of Christ was smaller than that of the children of Jacob (Israel). In the apocrypha
Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...
l Lentulus letter, Jesus is described as having had a reddish complexion, matching Muslim traditions in this respect. Jesus's prediction that he would be taunted "Physician, heal yourself" may suggest that Jesus was indeed physically deformed ("crooked" or hunch-backed), as claimed in the early Christian texts listed above. Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr ( el, Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, Ioustinos ho martys; c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher.
Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and ...
, Tertullian, and Ambrose considered lack of physical attractiveness in Jesus as fulfilling the messianic prophecy Suffering Servant narrative of Isaiah 53
Isaiah 53 is the fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah and is one of the Nevi'im. Chapters 40 through 55 a ...
.
The more mainstream, theological perspective, as expressed by Church Fathers Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...
and Augustine of Hippo, argued that Jesus must have been ideally beautiful in face and body. For Augustine he was "beautiful as a child, beautiful on earth, beautiful in heaven". These theological arguments were further extended in the 13th century by Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...
in his based on his analysis of the perfection of Christ
The perfection of Christ is a principle in Christology which asserts that Christ's human attributes exemplified perfection in every possible sense. Another perspective characterizes Christ's perfection as purely spiritual and moral, while his huma ...
, reasoning that Jesus must have embodied every possible human perfection.
By the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, a number of documents, generally of unknown or questionable origin, had been composed and were circulating with details of the appearance of Jesus:
* Around the 9th century, Epiphanius Monachus referred to a tall angelic figure, which has at times been interpreted as Christ, but scholars consider it an unlikely reference to Jesus. Other spurious references include the Archko Volume and the letter of Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...
to Tiberius Caesar
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
, the descriptions in which were most likely composed in the Middle Ages.
* The Letter of Lentulus, a forged letter supposedly written by Publius Lentulus, the Governor of Judea, to the Roman Senate, according to most scholars was composed to compensate for the lack of any physical description of Jesus in the Bible.
* In the 14th century, Nicephorus Callistus quoted an unnamed antique source that described Jesus as tall and beautiful with fair, wavy hair, but his account was most likely without basis and was inspired by the prevailing artistic images of Jesus.
Quranic and Muslim traditions
Quranic and hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
traditions such as Sahih Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari ( ar, صحيح البخاري, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī), group=note is a ''hadith'' collection and a book of '' sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī (810–870) around 846. Al ...
as well as tafsir
Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...
have given an oral depiction of what Jesus looked like, although some accounts do not match, such as his being both curly-haired and straight-haired. The hadith refer to Muhammad's account of the Night Journey
The Israʾ and Miʿraj ( ar, الإسراء والمعراج, ') are the two parts of a Night Journey that, according to Islam, the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632) took during a single night around the year 621 (1 BH – 0 BH). With ...
, when he was taken up to heaven by the angel Gabriel (Jibra'il), where he saw Jesus and other prophets. Most versions of this say "Jesus had curly hair and a reddish complexion." Others say his face was flushed as if he just had a bath ("a reddish man with many freckles on his face as if he had just come from a bath"). In another account from Bukhari, Jesus is seen in a dream near the Kaaba, as "a man of a wheatish complexion with straight hair. I asked who it was. They said: This is the Messiah, son of Mary." However, other narrations give variations in the color. Salim ibn Abd-Allah
Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was a well known narrator of hadith (sayings of Muhammad), many of which he related first hand from either his father, Abd Allah ibn Umar (died 693), or his grandfather, the caliph Umar (r ...
reports from his father Abdullah ibn Umar that the prophet "did not say that Jesus was of red complexion", rather he was "a man of brown complexion and lank hair".[Bukhari, ''Kitabul Ahadlth al-Anbiya'', Hadith 3185.] In contrast, Abd Allah ibn Abbas says Jesus was of "moderate complexion inclined to the red and white colors and of lank hair". According to Hanafi Madhab, contradictions in hadith may be resolved through multiple methods, one being the number of times a narration has been made and the number of chain of narrations and the character of those in the chain of narration or the narrator themselves. There are four hadiths in Bukhari stating Jesus had a brown complexion and three hadiths in Imam Muslim. However, the most prominent narrator is from Salim ibn Abdullah ibn Umar, descendant of Caliph Umar, with a chain of narration that stated: "a man of brown complexion and lank hair".
These variations have been explained in various ways, and have been co-opted to make assertions about race. For example, Ana Echevarría notes that medieval Spanish writer Jiménez de Rada, in his , chooses a version to emphasise that Jesus is whiter than Muhammad, quoting the Ibn Abbas version: "I saw Jesus, a man of medium height and moderate complexion inclined to the red and white colours and of lank hair." Echevarría comments that "Moses and Jesus are portrayed as specimens of a completely different 'ethnic type', fair and blond; 'ethnic' or 'racial' differences between them and Muhammad are thus highlighted." Furthermore, most accounts of hadith say Moses was of dark complexion, i.e. Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 55, Number 607, Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 55, Number 648, Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 55, Number 650. There is almost universal agreement that Moses was of dark complexion by 6th-century Hijazi standards.
Mormon depictions
The Doctrine and Covenants describes the Lord appearing to Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...
: "His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters..."
D&C: 110:3
Mary, mother of Jesus
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
is described in First Nephi
The First Book of Nephi: His Reign and Ministry (), usually referred to as First Nephi or 1 Nephi, is the first book of the Book of Mormon and one of four books with the name Nephi. The original translation of the title did not include the word "f ...
as "a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white"
1Nephi 11:13
.
Emergence of racial theories
According to the Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...
and the Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...
, Jesus was a descendant of King David. One argument against this claim is the contradiction which is contained in Jesus's genealogies: Matthew says he is descended from King Solomon, while Luke says he is descended from Solomon's brother, Nathan. John of Damascus taught that there is no contradiction, for Nathan wed Solomon's wife after Solomon died in accordance with (the mitzvah that a man must marry his brother's childless widow).
In his book ''The Forging of Races'', Colin Kidd argues that the assignment of race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
to biblical individuals has been a mostly subjective practice which is based on cultural stereotypes and societal trends rather than scientific methods. Kidd reviews a number of theories about the race of Jesus, including a white "Aryan" Jesus and a black African Jesus.
In his book ''Racializing Jesus'', Shawn Kelley says the assignment of a specific race to Jesus has been a cultural phenomenon which has been emanating from the higher levels of intellectual circles within societies, and he draws parallels between the different approaches within different settings.[''Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblical Scholarship'' by Shawn Kelley 2002 pages ii-xi] Cain Hope Felder
Cain Hope Felder (June 9, 1943 – October 1, 2019) was an American biblical scholar, serving as professor of New Testament language and literature and editor of ''The Journal of Religious Thought'' at the Howard University School of Divinity. He ...
has argued that New Testament passages such as Galatians 3:28 express a universalism going beyond race, ethnicity or even religion.
By the 19th century, theories that Jesus was a member of the so-called "Aryan race", and in particular, theories that his appearance was Nordic, were developed and later appealed to advocates of the new racial antisemitism
Racial antisemitism is prejudice against Jews based on a belief or assertion that Jews constitute a distinct race that has inherent traits or characteristics that appear in some way abhorrent or inherently inferior or otherwise different from ...
, who wanted nothing Jewish, Semitic or West Asian about Jesus. Houston Stewart Chamberlain
Houston Stewart Chamberlain (; 9 September 1855 – 9 January 1927) was a British-German philosopher who wrote works about political philosophy and natural science. His writing promoted German ethnonationalism, antisemitism, and scientific ...
posited that Jesus was of Amorite
The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied la ...
-Germanic extraction, although Amorites were themselves a Northwest Semitic people. The Amorites were actually a Semitic people. Madison Grant
Madison Grant (November 19, 1865 – May 30, 1937) was an American lawyer, zoologist, anthropologist, and writer known primarily for his work as a eugenicist and conservationist, and as an advocate of scientific racism. Grant is less noted f ...
claimed Jesus for the Nordic race. This theory found its most extreme form in the Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
theology of Positive Christianity
Positive Christianity (german: Positives Christentum) was a movement within Nazi Germany which promoted the belief that the racial purity of the German people should be maintained by mixing racialistic Nazi ideology with either fundamental or s ...
. Scholars who supported the radical Aryan view also argued that being a Jew by religion was distinguishable from being a Jew by race or ethnicity. These theories usually include the rationalization that Jesus was an Aryan because the region of Galilee was supposedly inhabited by non-Jews who spoke an unknown Indo-European language, but this theory has not gained scholarly acceptanceGalilee was inhabited by a significantly non-Jewish minority, but its members spoke various local Semitic languages.[''Jesus and the origins of Christianity'' by Maurice Goguel, New York, Harper, 1960 page 255]
In his book ''Anacalypsis'' (1836), Godfrey Higgins
Godfrey Higgins (30 January 1772 in Owston, Yorkshire – 9 August 1833 in Cambridge) was an English magistrate and landowner, a prominent advocate for social reform, historian, and antiquarian. He wrote concerning ancient myths. His book '' Ana ...
suggested that Jesus was a dark, brown-skinned Indo-Aryan from North India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
. In 1906, a German writer named Theodor Plange wrote a book titled ''Christ-an Indian?'' in which he argued that Jesus was an Indian and the Christian gospel originated in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
By the 20th century, theories that Jesus was black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
had also been proposed, but they did not claim he belonged to a specific African ethnicity, based on the unsupported argument that as a group and in whole or in part, the Semitic ancient Israelites of West Asia, were originally black people.["The Black Christ" Chapter 25 of ''The Blackwell Companion to Jesus'' edited by Delbert Burkett 2010 pages 410–420] Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
was a proponent of the "Black Christ" movement and he identified the struggle of Jesus against the authorities of the time with the struggle of African Americans in the United States, as he questioned why the white church leaders did not voice concern for racial equality. For some, this blackness was due to Jesus's identification with black people, not to the color of his skin, while others such as the black nationalist Albert Cleage
Albert B. Cleage Jr. (June 1911 – February 20, 2000) was a Black nationalist Christian minister, political candidate, newspaper publisher, political organizer, and author. He founded the prominent Shrine of the Black Madonna Church, as well as ...
argued that Jesus was ethnically black.
A study which was documented in the 2001 BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' attempted to determine what Jesus's race and appearance may have been. Assuming Jesus to be a native West Asian Galilean
that he would have appeared 'Middle Eastern' and his skin would have been "olive-coloured"
and "swarthy"these results were criticised by some media outlets for being "dismissive" and "dumbed down".
In academic studies, beyond generally agreeing that "Jesus was Jewish" and from West Asia,
there are no contemporary depictions of Jesus that can be used to determine his appearance.
In 2001, a new attempt was made to discover what the true race and face of Jesus might have been, and it was documented in the ''
'' documentary series. The study, sponsored by the
...