What colour was Jesus?

Is it okay to depict Christ as black? What about other biblical characters such as Adam and Eve?

Science reveals that the first human beings originated in Africa. Africa is the Edenic land. Adam and Eve (another way of saying the first humans) were black Africans!

It has been suggested that one of the most significant miracles of all time is that Jesus, who was born in the ‘Middle East’, became white and blonde. Should Yeshua Hamashiac aka Jesus Christ be restored to his black status in the myriad depictions used in art across church, literature, and various media?

One may consider this colour matter as a non-issue since depictions in art are left to the artist’s licence for self expression and the viewer’s capacity for personal interpretation. What do you think? Another person might maintain that since God and blackness hovered over the earth in the beginning, then God and blackness are inseparable.

Iconography is an ancient and significant part of human history and religion. Contrary to what many have been misled to believe, icons in church are not an indication of idolatry. These symbols are not being worshipped or placated. Instead, art in church only has value in so far as the symbolism goes. A symbol cannot point to itself. In religion, a statue, for example, always points to a deeper reality. A statue of the Blessed Mary is not to invite belief in some inherent power residing in the clay, concrete, wood, or other materials used thereof. Instead, it is a pointing to and a celebration of Mary, the mother of our salvation. A powerful black woman whose song inspires resistance to the economically powerful and the enthroned political powers who fail to do justice.

OMNIPOTENT WHITE SUPREMACY PROJECT

Unfortunately, much of the Christianity marketed in the global south has been the hijacked variety bequeathed by colonial and neo-colonial forces. Traditional churches, therefore, came with white Jesus, white Mary, white Joseph, white Abraham, white Sarah, white Adam, white Eve, and so on. American evangelicalism finetuned this bleaching process and has been quite blatant in owning and leading the omnipotent white supremacy project.

I still wrestle with how we are going to address the falsity of immortalised colour depictions in stained-glass paintings and European aesthetics in sculpture and other art forms. This travesty of truth has wrought more mental slavery than we may ever realise.

The task of the liberation theologian in context is to face the truth of history. As Caribbean people, we should be able to stand back and look critically at how any institution has served racism, impoverished the oppressed, and called evil good. In 2020, the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands observed 150 years of Disestablishment. The Website of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands notes: “By separating the Church from the State, and placing responsibility for its administration in the hands of its members, the Church was able to grow and expand in ways which were not possible before. We take for granted today the annual Synod and, indeed, the entire Diocesan structure, but these are the results of Disestablishment. The extensive religious, educational, and social-welfare services and programmes now operated by the Church are among the many positive developments since 1870.”

SEEDS OF RACISM

However, this did not mean that the Church became automatically freed from the influential value system and pedagogy that informed those wretched scribes and pharisees who blessed the holocaust of the transatlantic slave trade. The seeds of racism have informed much of what we now know as colourism and classism.

Any number of institutions may be identified in post-colonial contexts which have various manifestations of this oppressive history. However, the way forward is not to dump these institutions that are ours now. What we ought of necessity to do is to transform them!

Evangelicals will find it beneficial to rid themselves of the preoccupation with crusades against personal sin only, while forgetting wickedness and corruption in high places. Neo-colonialism has supported evangelicalism to the advantage of politicians again. This is because of its capacity to constantly focus on what people eat or drink or wear or who they love while giving people a false sense of being the right church with all the perfect people. Matters of human rights and justice are nil. Silence. No talk about human dignity. Only salvation from personal sin and being washed white.

The colour issue is a huge one in post-colonial societies. Even 100 years after Disestablishment, many congregations had a difficulty calling a black rector/pastor. There are Anglicans today who recall the first time their congregation got a black priest and the attendant challenges adjusting to same. This has also been true for other denominations.

In a reflection on Christ is Black by A. Chukwudum B. Okolo, it has been noted by Aylward Shorter in African Christian Spirituality that “for the African, Christ is a kinsman, a brother. The next logical step is to say that he is black”. He saw Okolo as speaking for the new breed of black theologians in South Africa during apartheid. See the prevailing relevance for today: “Theirs is a theology of liberation which grows out of an unjust socio-political situation. Christ is on the side of the ‘diminished man’, of the oppressed African in a white-dominated world. The white Christian fashions his Jesus, his God, in his own image, thereby justifying in his own eyes his world-mastery. This image must be smashed … .”

In Jamaica, we want to believe that we have a healthy dose of black consciousness. However, the symptoms of mental slavery speak eloquently. Many are beholden to still having an alien context as our final appellate jurisdiction. Many are yet to appreciate the urgency of a republic versus being shackled to monarchy. Many are still not clear on the necessity of reparatory justice. And schools will reopen with the age old anti-African hair-discrimination practices.

Are our churches ready to face the truth? Are we ready to be agents for positive change and transformation?

- Fr Sean Major-Campbell is an Anglican priest and advocate for human rights. seanmajorcampbell@yahoo.com