EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION
My parents and I recently visited a Christmas event where hundreds of Nativity scenes designed by artists from all across the world were on display.
They ranged from the beautiful to the bizarre, including olive wood carvings and abstract sculptures of the Christ child to an odd set of moose figurines re-imagined as Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and the Magi.
Of course, we also saw many, many Nativities that reflected the artistry and human traits of cultures from all across the world. Baby Jesus was white, black, Native American, Asian, Latino — one set even showed him as Amish.
I thought of those displays this week when I read an opinion piece in Calvin University’s student newspaper Chimes that took issue with the portrayal of Jesus as white in many U.S. and European cultures.
“Close your eyes and picture Jesus. Who do you see? What are his features?” student reporter Evangeline Anga wrote. “In stained glass, children’s Bibles, and holiday films, the Christ who enters our imagination often bears a European face. That is not an accident, but rather a reflection of how whiteness has come to be associated with holiness.”
Anga quoted two professors at the Protestant university who have voiced similar concerns:
Eric Washington, professor of history and Africana studies, put it plainly: “Art in the Latin church during the Middle Ages and Renaissance often pictured Jesus and the holy family with European features; there were exceptions. Europe also produced Black Madonnas. In other words, people localized the image of Jesus.” Localization may sound harmless, that is, until the picture travels with the empire. “With exploration and then colonialism, a European-looking Jesus traveled to the Americas, Africa and parts of Asia. New converts often accepted that image without question because it arrived with the missionaries and colonizers,” Washington said.
The Nativity displays that I saw – in a rural, white, conservative American town, no less – did not match that description.
But Anga’s article went on:
Black becomes a synonym for what is unclean or suspect. If holiness is pictured as bright, polished and fair-skinned, then bodies that do not match the picture are urged to move closer to the light — in other words, closer to whiteness.
Kevin Timpe, professor of philosophy and the philosophy department chair, warned how easily that slide happens. “When we remake divine figures in our own image, we obscure what it means that we are made in God’s image. It becomes easier to use religion for our agendas without noticing it.” He pointed to the way biblical metaphors work on us over time. Scripture often pairs light with purity and darkness with sin. It also uses blindness to picture spiritual failure. “If we do not examine those metaphors, we smuggle value judgments into how we view people with darker skin or people with disabilities.”
This is a narrow view, and it’s troubling that identity politics is often the only way in which college students are taught to analyze culture. There’s a kind of underlying “out to get you” assumption behind this type of thinking, too.
But there are other ways to view such things. In all likelihood, Jesus looked Arabic with dark hair and tan skin. But depicting him as white – or even as a moose! – is not necessarily the product of bad intentions.
For example, human beings are creative. We take joy in re-imagining ways to depict significant historical and religious scenes, often adding personal and cultural touches to what we create.
We also take comfort in the familiar, so it makes sense that a European artist would paint Jesus as white and an African artist would depict him as black.
In some instances, the idea may not be to exclude, but to include. For example, when children see images of Jesus that look like them, it may give them a sense that Jesus is familiar and cares about them personally.
Depicting Jesus as white isn’t necessarily wrong any more than portraying him as black or Hispanic is. The Bible says human beings are made in God’s image. And that includes all humans of all races.
There are more ways to look at things than by someone’s race, culture, class, ability, or gender, and going through the world assuming the worst of motivations brings about unnecessary suspicion and judgement. This intense focus on identity politics in higher education is not healthy. It’s time for students to be taught to look for the good and the beautiful.
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