What Did Jesus REALLY Look Like?
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
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In this video, I examine Biblical descriptions, paintings and films in order to discover what Jesus actually looked like 2,000 years ago.
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"Shot at Catholic Church" shows how the creators didn't understand what they were mocking. That's the most protestant statue I've ever seen.
Haha true
The perception of Christ in different cultures is different for each one because different cultures have a different perception regarding seeing the embodiment of eternity that Christ embodies. From Alexander to the Romans to the caliphates the true look of the people in the Levant has changed and shifted through the millenias beyond what anyone now can with certainty declare. Trying to dictate everything into the determination of a neoliberal open society misses the entirety of the purpose. "Everyone must interact with a topic I don't believe in the way I desire" bleeds so much unbelievable arrogance it's insulting
Two things. #1 Revelation speaks in almost entirely metaphors and visions, so they way he's described in that account(Rev 1:14) isn't to be taken literally because #2 Matthew 26: 48,49 Judas had to identify to those arresting Jesus who he was, if he looked the way he did in Revelation, it would be obvious. Jesus was from the line of David through Mary, and he was known widely only when he performed miracles not from his appearance. All in all, Jesus looked like a healthy Jewish man.
Dude stop...He was black,the real jews are black.
"Danger"
This has very little to do with the factual nature of Jesus's appearance, the point is moot, we don't know, every culture and people has its own idiosyncratic iconographic tradition, it's something that's been repeated at nauseum, including in this video.
It has, however, a lot to do with assigning unique culpability to white people for doing the same thing any other Christian people were doing historically, with the only damnable, unforgivable difference of having been more successful than others at the inherently competitive game of civilization expansion, to date.
The thesis of the implied "danger" of White Jesus (miraculously absent in any other version not meticulously complying with the current consensus of archeology and anthropology) hinges on the implicit assumption that the culture and history of white people needs to be deconstructed and paraded everywhere as "dangerous" and "problematic", something that you wouldn't be able to get away with even attempting to apply to any other group.
The only real reply that matters.
Well said. This video was a miss.
Totally agree. The video had some interesting points and was well made as always, but - as a mixed race man with long experience living in south and east asia - pointing to white depictions of Jesus as uniquely harmful or bad is grotesque.
If you want to keep telling yourself that white people are intrinsically better at “civilization competition,” go ahead. But please don’t tell yourself it’s because of anything in the Bible or what Jesus taught. The Bible, from the Psalms, to the Exile Prophets, to Jesus Himself addressing Pilate, an avatar of European colonial power, have very little patience with the geopolitical games built on blood and fear. Kingdoms rise and fall. “Eternal” cities get sacked by Vandals and Visigoths. “Impenetrable” cities get conquered in a day by Cyrus. And the execution weapon that Rome used to strike fear into its subjects became a symbol of compassion and devotion, of utter fearlessness in the face of the likes of Pliny and Pilate. So go tell yourself how great white people are because we “won” the post-Colombian era. But if you really want to understand the ethic that has influenced Western Civilization more than any other, and informed our most basic notion of inherent rights, and whose teachings ultimately led to those empires’ people souring on the conquering and enslaving of others, you’re going to have to listen to a plain, destitute Middle Eastern dude, his brawny, illiterate fisherman buddy, and a short, rogue Pharisee from Turkey.
It's entirely problematic if it's inaccurate, Jesus wasn't white, Asian, or black. He was a Jewish man who was never described as being different in appearance to his apostles, all Jewish men. He's tied directly to the Jewish people so it would very inappropriate to depict him as something contrary.
In Latin America there is a bigger following of the Virgin Mary, and she shows in many different races to different cities. In Maracaibo, Venezuela, the Patron Virgin is Virgin of Chiquinquirá, but people lovingly refer to her as "La Chinita" (the cute Chinese lady) although Maracaibo does not have a larger Chinese community. It does have a larger indigenous community, and it might be possible that the famous wooden plank of La Chinita where the worship originated, reflects the virgin as indigenous, instead of Chinese. Nobody knows who painted the wood plank where she appeared but the lady who found it might have had indigenous ancestry so appearing to look like asian to the local population. It is an accepted fact nowadays in Venezuela that the virgin of Maracaibo is La Chinita (the cute chinese lady), even though in the actual wooden plank she is looking like indigenous woman with tan skin.
7:36 Here‘s a mistake. This is the self portrait of Albrecht Dürer. It even says so in the latin text (Albertus Durerus Noricus). I had the chance to see the original just a few months ago in Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Another mistake at 7:20. The image is Paul Gaugain's painting 'Yellow Christ' I don't think Gauguin was trying to represent Jesus as 'part of the local population.'
I noticed it, too. To be fair, Dürer intentionally painted himself similiar to Jesus.
@@kevinf8439Or maybe the other Jesuses were just painted to look like Albrecht Dürer 🤔 😊
I do always appreciate your videos that explore how culture has shaped the beliefs of Christianity. Thanks for another great video!
It seems kind of obvious, but I never thought you were going to do a "The Day Jesus was born" video for Christmas...
Great video as usual!!! Happy Holydays!!! Thanx!!!
Thank you!!
Wonderful video, as always.😊 I really liked how you delved into both historical and on-screen interpretations of Jesus. This video is a really great resource for this sort of subject. Great job.😄
Heaven, Hell, Jesus... love this series, Elk. Can we get a "what did Moses really look like?" next?! SO many cinematic interpretations out there.
Ummm...Moses didn't exist
LOL So true.
Thanks buddy. Glad you liked the video!
@@Bhatakti_Hawas no u
@@Bhatakti_Hawas Then neither did you.
10:17 Ben hur never showed the face of Jesus. They always showed the back of his head. It’s a huge stretch to say that he’s a white Jesus
What do you mean it's a stretch? Semitic people are part of the caucasoid branch of humanity.
Since when do you have to be blond and blue-eyed to be white?
Most of the people butthurt about historically correct Jesus doesn't even believe in Jesus.
People are also wrong to think Jesus would've necessarily looked like a modern day Palestinian. In fact he almost certainly would not. Setting aside the question of the historicity of Jesus, if he even existed, or whether he was an amalgamation of multiple other historical figures, we have to look at demographic changes in the Levant over the past 2000 years. The demographics of the Middle East nowadays are largely shaped by waves of Islamic invasions from the Arabian peninsula - invasions which occurred several centuries after Jesus Christ is supposed to have lived.
Add to that a long Ottoman occupation, and many other smaller demographic changes, and you have to realize that a Palestinian in 2022 bears little resemblance to a Palestinian 2000 years ago.
At the time when Jesus lived, the local population would've been composed of Jews, yes, but also people of Greco-Roman descent, as well as people of Nabatean, Phoenician, and Assyrian origin. It was a mix, and there are many possibilities in terms of what Jesus would've looked like, but the odds that he would've resembled a modern day Palestinian are low.
That said, even among the modern population of the Levant, there are many people who look, and basically are, white. A lot of Westerners seem to think everyone in the Middle East is brown, but this is not the case at all. I've been to the Middle East dozens of times, I have friends and family who are from there, and a significant number of folks over there straight up look European. You would often not be able to tell the difference.
So even *if* Jesus resembled a modern day Middle Eastern man, this does not actually preclude him having light hair and light eyes. My 100% Jordanian grandfather has blue eyes and whiter skin than the average Norwegian. No one would be able to tell he is Jordanian.
Finally, it is natural that various cultures have somewhat "appropriated" Jesus and made him fit into their image. Go to Korea and Japan and visit Christian communities - you will see artwork of an Asian-looking Jesus.
At the end of the day, people need to understand that the idea that Jesus may have been white is actually very far from being impossible, but regardless of what he looked like, we also need to realize that his importance throughout history and throughout the world means different depictions of him were inevitable. I'm not sure what Medieval European artists who had never been to the Middle East were supposed to do. Most of them wouldn't know what a Middle Eastern man in the 1st century would've looked like.
So they drew him the only way they knew how. Hardly anything to get outraged about imo.
@@nachgeben A. Israeli and Palestinian people don't always look very different. Oftentimes you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. B. The Quran is another book full of made up stories. It doesn't matter what it says. Just like the Bible, it has very little historical value and is mostly nonsense. C. Israel as a nation did not even exist 2000 years ago. It was founded in 1948. If Jesus existed, he was by all accounts a Palestinian Jew. It is impossible to know for sure what he would've looked like.
He doesn't know history but he does hate "white" people. White-Out: introduction to events and people removed from history ua-cam.com/video/JYIZrcN9z48/v-deo.html
Well done, Adam!
I love that one of the disciples in Godspell has a Daniel Tiger puppet!
Super interesting breakdown
Thank you for always subverting my expectations on what you'll do next but also doing it thorough and in your unique style and narration. Happy holidays elk!
Rian Johnson would be so proud
Thank you!
Great video!
Thanks!
That's assuming Isaiah was in fact referring to Jesus in the future and that later Christians aren't just reading back into that passage what they want to be there.
Wow never been to any video this early lol. Have a good Christmas bro!
Merry Christmas!
More videos please!!!!!
Love this take
"I like to think of him as wearing one of those t-shirts with a tuxedo picture on it as a way to say he's formal but still casual and knows how to have a good time." - Cal Naughton Jr (Taladega Nights)
Always a pleasure watching your videos
Thanks so much!
Agreed, though I don't know why people refer to Jesus as being depicted as blonde, cus the white imagery I've seen IRL and in this video... has brown hair?? At the lightest, it's golden brown, but far from blonde. So I don't know what I'm missing there.
Dirty Blonde?
Great video
Thanks!
Yeah. This is good. And I was also thinking about MESSIAH the Netflix show which also shows a Jesus type figure as a Young Israeli guy.
I feeel like I kinda wasted my time but got decent Jesus movie recommendations lol
i wouldn't say waste of time. it just shows you how one core belief can be interpreted in different ways.
@@acadia5898 you right
@@WrathofFenrir99 lol foreal!!! That why I like videos that get to the point and use straight facts
Well thanks for watching something different. Hope you liked the movie recs.
Now do cleopatra, tough guy.
Why does it matter? For example Genghis khan was acted by John Wayne long before the internet
I love that Yeheshoa is an average looking dude who decides to keep his scars.
14:51 Jordan is from around the place The gospel took place just across the river in fact
I didn't realize there were so many films about Jesus! Fascinating stuff. Of course cultures like to see a Jesus who looks like them. Very cool video.
What do you mean by more cultural and appropriate cast? What cast is not appropriate when it comes to Jesus stories?
Cultural appropriate. Not cultural and appropriate.
@@EntertainTheElk My bad
I feel he probably had a Middle Eastern appearance
Before indoor plumbing, everyone looked middle eastern.
This is the type of stuff that made us Orthodox Christians displeased with Catholics and Protestants...
*unknowingly bumps into Jesus.
"Oh, sir. The evening prayer is about to start."
"Hmm?"
"Um... are you Muslim?"
"No."
"Oh, my bad. I kinda assumed because you're Arab."
"I'm Jewish."
...
"Holy, macaroni. I am, so sorry."
Jews also have an evening prayer, it's called Ma'ariv.
9:25 that was the Africans Who enslaved the Africans then sold them to merchants Who transported them across the sea
How is it the European depiction of Christ, reflective of European people, more damaging or insulting than Asians depicting Christ as Asian, or Ethiopians depicting him as an Ethiopian looking man? What is the point being made here that Europeans did exactly with deceptions of Christ that other cultures did? Art is reflective of the people who make it, as earlier pointed out in this video.
We don't know how most historical figures looked like, but we still have images of them, Jesus is one
How they looked. Or what they looked like. Not how they looked like. If the amalgamation of prophets upon which the character of 'Jesus' was based was real could speak modern English, that amalgamation of prophets would be dissatisfied.
Vietnamese Jesus definitely has drip
7:41 Jessi Lee Peterson 🤣
No, but seriously, this video was good work as always. Definitely didn't expect this given the holiday we now know as Christmas is far removed from the original Christ Mass it was in times past.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; Exodus 20:4
With this being said I feel that any depiction of Christ or God really shouldn't be done nor is even really worth it. People are better off finding out in heaven.
It’s an exercise in critical thinking but yes ultimately doesn’t matter.
Christ‘s image varies depending on what culture is venerating him. This makes sense. Same as how the Church adapts to any culture or language. Because Christianity is universal. Each society can put its own spin on the details… it doesn’t matter what Christ’s hair or nose or eyes or skin looks like… because it’s all the same Christ. We simply interpret him differently. You can change the details but the core remains the same
Exactly. This is standard practice for various religious figures worldwide, from Jesus to Buddha. It seems like a nitpick if we're being honest.
@@nateh1135 It's really just jumping on the "white man bad" bandwagon.
Christ has no color, no pigmentation, no preference. Only longing for ignorance, proclivity for mythology and desperation.
If anything that makes Christianity less credible. If there’s no actual consensus on any religion then which one is real?
We created god in our image.
Good video, but pretty strange that you didn't once mention the global phenomenon that is "The Chosen" (2017-)
Good video
Thanks!
Godspell Jesus looks like a Superman/Mork fusion.
I lost it when you compared Ben-Hur to Forrest Gump 😂😂😂
But it's actually pretty accurate. :D
Haha :)
That was an unfair comparison. Amonst all the "colonizer" references, Ben-Hur was respectful enough to hide Jesus face. But you didn't even bring that up or any other media that makes the wise choice to avoid depicting him directly.
@@Jabberwockybird ? His comparison was about how both protagonists happened to acidentally stumble first hand into multiple major events of history.
I was at the Manila art museum and yeah all the Jesus' were white. I thought it was very strange. I think it came from the hundreds of years the Spanish were colonizing the people there.
9:20 The native population was low
There was a few wars but what you’re thinking of is something like the war 1812
I really enjoyed this video, it was a pretty great year from your end so thank you
Glad you liked it
I grew up Christian and am still in the faith as an adult. My dad and I have had multiple conversations about what Jesus actually looked like and, despite our differences in philosophy, spirituality, and politics, he and I both agree that Jesus certainly wasn’t white. He actually said Jesus would’ve had a more olive complexion, if not brown skin, and he would’ve had dark eyes with shorter and more coarse hair rather than the blue eyes and long flowing hair he’s depicted as having in European medieval and renaissance paintings just like you said in the video.
a perfectly Christmas topic))
I hoped so!
If you go to a gas station in southeastern Michigan I'm sure you could find his look alike
Thanks for the Jesus Christ Superstar jump scare that I didn't know I needed. lol
Haha. You’re welcome.
The quote from Isaiah describes Christ in his suffering and Passion. It does not intend to describe to His general look.
Here's the following verse: "He was despised, he was the scum of mankind, a man of sorrows, acquainted with sufferings; like those before whom one covers one's face, he was cursed and we took no notice of him."
Hi
Hello
You have to watch a brazilian movie called "O Auto da Compadecida". There are Lucifer, Mary and Jesus. Great movie, majestic ending.
Cool! Thanks for the rec
True. It's a great movie, and the fact that they made Jesus black doesn't matter at all on the plot, which is great.
Can you please do a “The Day Jesus Died” video?
Haha. Well done.
Dogma is a film my gf and i watch a lot.
You mention SuperStar Jesus, but not Saved! Jesus. Lol.
Not to mention Christian Bale plays Jesus in Mary, Mother of Jesus. I usually joke that his Batman lived bc he was Jesus in another film. Lol.
There is a brown Jesus film. Right now I don't remember the name (if I remember I'll put it in my comment as a response), but his looks blend in with his disciples and it's not in English with subtitles plus no miracles.
Growing up I always wondered why people made Jesus yt, even at a young age I recognized a man from the middle east was probably some flavor of brown...
Middle east people aren't brown
Ok.
God damn
Jesus looked like the man on the Schroud.
God made Man in his image. It seems like Jesus, God's son in the form of Man, would take the form that his worshiper needs. If you're white and need a white savior, Jesus is white. If you're black and need a black savior, Jesus is black. If you don't particularly care about race and ethnicity He might be anything or anyone. There's an old saying that goes: "To a starving man, God is a piece of bread."
Jesus was not an indo-european.
Great job!
Thank you!
Why does everyone say that Jesus is white when in the bible it says that he is bronze?
Excellent video 👍👍
Thanks!
really good video:)
Thanks!
To add to your thoughts a bit, the Second Commandment reads, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
For what it’s worth, when discussing man’s interpretation of Jesus’ image the danger comes when Jesus becomes “ours” or “mine.” Claiming ownership of the creator of the universe is a dangerous business, one that lays the foundation for any number of evils. Committing Jesus to film, even as an interpretation, presents some of its own dangers as people begin to use interpretation as Gospel in ways not dissimilar from how many American’s understanding of the mob is drawn from film and not primary accounts.
Then there is the danger of taking the sacred and making it ordinary. We see it in a way from the Muslim world, when the Koran is perceived to have been insulted violence might erupt. But it also might lead to a society in which nothing is sacred and in which the individual takes whatever liberties they want without regard for the other; the rendering of Jesus as white would qualify as one of those taken liberties, hence the danger of the image comes full circle.
There’s a lot to think about here. I’ve been turning over this thought for about 20 years so it’s nice to see someone look at it within the context of media.
I'm not sure what Jesus looked like but Da Jesus looks like John Turturro.
Dios mio man
:) You said it, man
Great topic, Elk!!
*Short answer:* Revelation 1:14-15 is another passage that describes Jesus’s appearance.
*Longer answer:* We’ll never know until we die since there’s not much written about it in the Bible. Because of that, we should keep the main thing the main thing: Love God and love people in that order. (Matthew 22:37-39)
Glad you enjoyed the video!
Yeah just how there's an issue of people painting Jesus white, on the other side of the coin there's a lot that paint him as black. Modern day cults like the Hebrew Israelites often do this
12:24 among us
They tell you what he looks like in Revelations chapter 1 verse 14 he told John to write down what he see
It's OK to ask what skin colour Jesus was but we shouldn't let that be the focus. His works and messages are the most important. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
WHY do people keep ignoring this,he was black Hebrew. HOW do you get tan or "olive skinned" from this? Brass is already brown but if it's burnt,it's gonna get darker,black.
Revelation 1:14-15
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
They're not ignoring it (it's trotted out all the time, usually by people that haven't bothered to read it), it's a vision, not a physical description, & obviously so if you actually read it
His head(!) & His hair were white (black? Lol) like wool, white as snow (black snow? Lol), feet like brass (which is golden in colour) in a furnace (which is bright glowing orange/yellow. Glowing black? Lol), eyes like blazing fire (is that black? Lol), a voice like rushing waters, seven stars in His hand, a sword coming out of His mouth & a face like the sun at it's brightest (black sun? Lol)
I don’t really care how Jesus looked Jesus still is Lord regardless how he looked. Good video either way.
Glad you enjoyed the video!
Jerry Stiller. The answer is Jerry Stiller. With a beard. The History Chanel revealed that years ago. A man of afro-asiatic origin.
Serenity now!
@@EntertainTheElk Festivus!
I think back in the day filmmakers often just didn't care. Having a well trained or easily available actor for an ethnicity wasn't always the most profitable choice.
The book has no car chases or explosions. Pass!
Great video ! Jesus rules 🙌
Glad you liked it!
this was a good video, praise the algorithm gods so it will be spread further
Salute!!
Comment for the algorithm gods. I'm really glad you covered this. Merry Christmas/ happy holidays
Salute! And merry Christmas.
Great video, I hope the algoritm gods dont kill it
Damn, a literal Short King of Kings
LMAO
Okay this comment needs to be framed and hung in a museum.
I don't know why a religious themed episode is on a chanel I subscribe to for TV shows and movies... Unpopular opinion maybe but I can't stand politics or religion in my entertainment feeds...
Facts
Good for you dude, let elk so what elk does best, you don't own the channel, then just unsubscribe.
Elk gonna elk.
@@mahendradhungel8011 you're right. Just did. Thanks for the advice.
I was listening to a podcast recently that talked about how the way that Jesus is portrayed in other medium besides scripture can have a negative impact on our view of him. Not only does it impact the way we view what he looked like, but it could lead us to worship that version of him, which is a violation of the second commandment. While I don’t agree that all artistic portrayals of Jesus are a violation of the second commandment, I do believe we need to approach them with discernment.
I’m also glad that many films and other visual mediums of art are moving away from the “white Jesus” and showing what he more accurately would have looked like.
Really fantastic video, just commenting so that more people can see this video
Thanks!
A great video for the Holiday Spirit! Thanks, Elk.
And LOL The comment section is probably as interesting as this video.
Haha. Yuuup. I was afraid to look at it but people are being surprisingly respectful so far. I mean, for UA-cam.
Very good. I'm engaging. Hey Algorithm! Promote this! It's Good!
im atheist but love Jesus christ superstar
America
Great video, well done!
I'm only slightly disappointed you missed 'Messiah' (2020) though, one of the most accurate depictions of Jesus even if it's not meant to be the historical figure but a reincarnation. But I guess there are hundreds of other movies and series around and it's impossible to feature them all.
Messaih 2020 had such an amazing background for "Jesus". And the actor himself did an excellent job.
Thanks! Missed that one. Tried to cover most
That was the Antichrist.
Interesting video, but I don't necessarily think it's "dangerous". As you repeated multiple times throughout the video, different ethnic groups depict Jesus as a part of their own, whether it be Korean, Ethiopian, Indian, etc. Buddhists in India and China do the same thing with the Buddha. From a religious perspective, the point isn't to be historically accurate but to better engrain the religious teachings into the society/culture it finds itself in. That may mean being depicted as a part of the ethnic group the religion is proselytizing to get more converts, as well as usurping the contemporary religious figures and practices that have already been established in order to ease them into it (as was the case with pagan Europe). It doesn't mean it's accurate nor does it mean it's dangerous. Jesus can be depicted as black if such churches so choose, but it would technically be just as inaccurate if just as harmless as well. Christ's message was about loving your fellow humans and being nonviolent, and it is universally applicable regardless of ethnicity. It seems to be a bit of a nitpick and naivete to make a big deal of his depiction, when it is standard practice with different religious figures worldwide.
Furthermore, if Jesus was a Jew, and most Jews are white, why wouldn't Jesus himself possibly have been white (with darker features, mind you)?
I say all this as a nonpracticing lapsed Catholic who is coming at this from an academic perspective similar to you. Anyways, interesting video nonetheless; have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
HMMM, excuse me sweety, he's saying that It's dangerous when Ypeople do it. And it totaly is
It becomes dangerous when you force your opinion on someone else and use similarity as a sign of superiority over the other.
@@EntertainTheElk YES, you tell him king! Next episode on Muhammad or are you just stomping on those evil christians?
People will always depict their gods in their likeness, and should not be judged by that. Why would someone idolize a being that has nothing to do with them?
Jesus was NOT WHITE!
And he most certainly was not Capitalist either.
Thank you for coming to my Ted-Talk
Capitalism is cannibalism. of course Jesus wasnt cannibalistic.
Jesus was pro liberty so he would be if that economic system existed in his times.
Great job
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
you
Me?
Persuading Algorithm Jesus with this comment