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Is there any biblical basis for the Church to depict Jesus as a European or some other ethnic race?

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The reason I ask is that the Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury (Anglican Church of England) was recently interviewed on *BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme* and said that in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, the way the Western church portrays Jesus needs to be thought about again. He suggested that a Middle Eastern looking Jesus is the most accurate. *The Daily Telegraph (Saturday 27 June 2020)* reported that a spokesman for Westminster Abbey said: “The Dean and Chapter of Westminster have begun a conversation about the Abbey’s memorials and how we can better reflect the attitudes of our time.” A photograph of the pulpit of Canterbury Cathedral showed a distinctly European looking Christ nailed to a cross with a very European looking Mary and Apostle John on either side of him. For Jesus to be accepted by the society into which he was born, he would have looked like them. The Jewish community in which Jesus grew up did not doubt that Jesus was the son of Joseph, the carpenter: >"Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us?” (Matthew 13:55) Had Jesus been born with white skin, blond or light brown hair and blue eyes, eyebrows might have been raised! Is there any biblical basis for the Western Church (Catholic or Protestant) to depict Jesus as a European or some other ethnic race?
Asked by Lesley (34959 rep)
Jun 27, 2020, 04:41 PM
Last activity: Feb 25, 2023, 10:57 PM