Jesus wasn’t white: He was a brown-skinned, Middle Eastern Jew. Here’s why that matters BY: ROBYN J. WHITAKER
I grew up in a tacky in that 1970s kind of way, but as a little girl I loved it. In this picture, Jesus looks kind and gentle, he gazes down at me lovingly. He is also light-haired, blue-eyed, and very white. The problem is, Jesus was not white. You’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise if you’ve ever entered a Western church or visited an art gallery. But while there is no physical description of him in the Bible, there is also no doubt that the historical Jesus, the man who was executed by the Roman State in the first century CE, was a brown-skinned, Middle Eastern Jew. Christian home, where a photo of Jesus hung on my bedroom wall. I still have it. It is schmaltzy and rather
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