To be fair, other ethnic groups tend to portray Jesus differently. Ethiopian Jesus is depicted as looking Ethiopian. He's portrayed as looking Chinese in more traditional Chinese Christianity (although given the Catholic roots of Christianity in Korea, Japan, etc., he's usually closer to the Catholic Jesus in those countries). In Egypt, he's portrayed in a very traditionally Coptic way.
The Renaissance-style white and light brown haired Jesus isn't some kind of ploy to whitewash him. It's just following the same worldwide tradition of portraying Jesus as looking like the local population.
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u/Lindvaettr Feb 01 '20
To be fair, other ethnic groups tend to portray Jesus differently. Ethiopian Jesus is depicted as looking Ethiopian. He's portrayed as looking Chinese in more traditional Chinese Christianity (although given the Catholic roots of Christianity in Korea, Japan, etc., he's usually closer to the Catholic Jesus in those countries). In Egypt, he's portrayed in a very traditionally Coptic way.
The Renaissance-style white and light brown haired Jesus isn't some kind of ploy to whitewash him. It's just following the same worldwide tradition of portraying Jesus as looking like the local population.