crazyheart
Rest In Peace: tomorrow,tomorrow
Are any of these pictures of Jesus in your mind? Or do
you have others? What does he look like to you or do you care?
Faces of Jesus
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Are any of these pictures of Jesus in your mind? Or do
you have others? What does he look like to you or do you care?
In reality, he (most likely) would’ve had brown or olive skin, dark hair and brown eyes. But spiritually, he could look like anybody.
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
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They all are, really. Fact is, we have no flipping idea what he looked like. The descriptions in the Gospels are vague at best. What most people think of as "Jesus" comes from medieval and later artwork or Eastern iconography. The question of his appearance is even more up to the beholder than the question of who he was and the two often go hand-in-hand.
BetteTheRed
Resident Heretic
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I personally like 15 of 16, because it's the most stylized and the most gender-ambiguous.
I think it looks feminine (if it was put with paintings of Mary it would fit, too)...but that’s also ok.
PilgrimsProgress
Well-Known Member
We did this as an exercise at Theology College.......
It seems that most folks see Jesus in their own cultural context.
That's why I still am rather keen on the Jesus of my Sunday School days. He was very English looking - with long brown wavy hair, blue eyes. dressed in a white robe with sandals. I remember being quite pleased that he liked little children - being one myself at that time.
Our tutor informed us that Jesus probably looked a lot like the first image. He was a middle Eastern Jew and, as such, was probably quite short in stature. (I must confess to being a wee bit disappointed - his face doesn't fit my cultural context of being intelligent.)
It seems that most folks see Jesus in their own cultural context.
That's why I still am rather keen on the Jesus of my Sunday School days. He was very English looking - with long brown wavy hair, blue eyes. dressed in a white robe with sandals. I remember being quite pleased that he liked little children - being one myself at that time.
Our tutor informed us that Jesus probably looked a lot like the first image. He was a middle Eastern Jew and, as such, was probably quite short in stature. (I must confess to being a wee bit disappointed - his face doesn't fit my cultural context of being intelligent.)
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/163607398942914350/
I like to think he looks like this (but that’s probably a sin
). This is Josh Tillman, aka Father John Misty, who’s a musician. I know that my imagination thinks Jesus is handsome. But in reality he could’ve looked like anybody in the region at the time, and it’s in people’s deeds now that we see ‘him’ spiritually, no matter what that person looks like. The most Christ like people I have met were not necessarily easy to look at, especially their circumstances (thinking now of the dumpster diver who took my arm and helped me cross an icey alley)...they have often been poor, homely, had dirty clothes, no possessions, were not academically smart...but had a beautiful caring spirit.
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revjohn
Well-Known Member
I believe that the upper left pic is based on a forensic reconstruction. Which means it is a dead ringer (pun quite by accident) for some actual being who once walked the earth in that neck of the woods. I expect Jesus looked as much like him as he did any other person at the time.
The challenge for Christians who take seriously that all humanity is created in the image and likeness of God is how can we look at another human being and fail to see the God in whose image and likeness that human being was created? Sure we are all funhouse reflections of that image and likeness with our own flaws and corruptions are we willing to stretch beyond those flaws or not?
The challenge for Christians who take seriously that all humanity is created in the image and likeness of God is how can we look at another human being and fail to see the God in whose image and likeness that human being was created? Sure we are all funhouse reflections of that image and likeness with our own flaws and corruptions are we willing to stretch beyond those flaws or not?
Would a Jesus vision of all humanity be a large composite?
I wonder what a composite of billions of faces would look like.
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
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I seem to recall something like that being done at some point but have no idea where or when. Definitely in the last couple decades, since you'd need Photoshop or similar software to pull it off.
See what happens when you blend all these faces together (click on all the thumbnails, then click “view average”). Maybe that’s what Jesus looks like. It’s a really interesting exercise.
Face Research ⇒ Demos ⇒ Make An Average
Face Research ⇒ Demos ⇒ Make An Average
At the link I posted, there are about 50 different photos (faces of all shapes and sizes and skin colours) to click if you want to blend all the faces, so it takes a bit of patience, but I found the result fascinating.
blackbelt1961
Well-Known Member
best Image ever
John 1:29
John 1:29
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
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best Image ever
John 1:29
I think an image like this carries more power and weight than any attempt to portray Jesus in a more literal way. It captures what Jesus means to a certain segment of the faith.
Like a' theist and a' lion with faith without strained psyches?
GeoFee
I am who I am becoming...
Hi,
Here is a small version of a card that was drawn and coloured by a close friend. We were living in a Christian cooperative at the time. It echoes the image above, minus the cross.
It is in the face of the broken poor I meet along the way that I see Jesus. It has been my practice since early adulthood. Jesus spoke of any offering of grace (cup of cold water) to another met along the way as being true service to him. I have thousands of stories I could tell of such encounters with Jesus. Let me offer one short memory.
I was walking by the war memorial in a grassy field. In that field I saw a gentleman in a tan overcoat sitting on the ground, with head hanging low. I meandered over, reached into my pocket and extended a five dollar bill. The man looked up and said: "God bless you." His eyes caught the sun and seemed golden as they met mine. I said farewell and returned to my path. My pocket was five dollars lighter and my spirit was high and lifted up. It seems my calling to be useful in the way of God was verified.
George
Here is a small version of a card that was drawn and coloured by a close friend. We were living in a Christian cooperative at the time. It echoes the image above, minus the cross.
It is in the face of the broken poor I meet along the way that I see Jesus. It has been my practice since early adulthood. Jesus spoke of any offering of grace (cup of cold water) to another met along the way as being true service to him. I have thousands of stories I could tell of such encounters with Jesus. Let me offer one short memory.
I was walking by the war memorial in a grassy field. In that field I saw a gentleman in a tan overcoat sitting on the ground, with head hanging low. I meandered over, reached into my pocket and extended a five dollar bill. The man looked up and said: "God bless you." His eyes caught the sun and seemed golden as they met mine. I said farewell and returned to my path. My pocket was five dollars lighter and my spirit was high and lifted up. It seems my calling to be useful in the way of God was verified.
George
GeoFee
I am who I am becoming...
Perhaps a bit of an aside, possibility relevant?
Posted and started thinking about the body of Christ. How it appears to me. Here is an image indicating my perspective:
These are persons of all kinds united in resistance to the abuse of the planet and its peoples. Some of them go to church and others do not. I am one of them. Our common concern is justice as the only viable way forward. My experience with this body of resistance in the hope of justice has been country wide. In the East and West coasts as in the Prairies. In all locations I have encouraged members of the institutional church to join in the resistance at street level.
Still thinking and one more image has come forward:
What does ancient wisdom have to say to our modern intelligence?
George
Posted and started thinking about the body of Christ. How it appears to me. Here is an image indicating my perspective:
These are persons of all kinds united in resistance to the abuse of the planet and its peoples. Some of them go to church and others do not. I am one of them. Our common concern is justice as the only viable way forward. My experience with this body of resistance in the hope of justice has been country wide. In the East and West coasts as in the Prairies. In all locations I have encouraged members of the institutional church to join in the resistance at street level.
Still thinking and one more image has come forward:
What does ancient wisdom have to say to our modern intelligence?
George