Huh, this is really interesting. I really try not to identify with any race, simply because any race comes with it's archetypes and preordained notions. Likewise, when the main character of a book or any storytelling media, the Bible included, doesn't have a race the reader can project much of himself onto the character. The more vague the character, the more the character is just a projection of the readers. A poster boy for our own demons to use as an actor. A scapegoat almost, for instance if one was racist how hard is it to justify it with "Jesus wouldn't like blacks", and likewise with any issue, from rape to homophobia to education to taxes. It's the reason why there are so many branched of Christianity, and why they are so polar from each other. From Christian Anarchism to the more imperialistic Catholicism, for example. It's really scary.
I liked what this had to say and I think it's right to point out that calling Jesus "black" has radical political connotations. I've always thought it was weird that some people like to say that Jesus was black, as if the country attributed to the life of Jesus were somehow African and not Asian. Of course, say Asian and people think Chinese. Whatever. I don't know if you've read Lamb by Christopher Moore, but it's a really funny and at times poignant book. I am not religious, though I was raised in a strict Catholic household, but it's always struck me that those that are the most vocal about Jesus are those that aim to make him more than a man. Maybe it's the Catholic upbringing, but I have always been under the impression that the biblical God's point of creating Jesus is so that God could understand what it is to be human. Moore's book centers on that human aspect, viewed through the eyes of a fictional best friend. It also drives home the point that many of our problems with other people and other peoples is that we spend an inordinate time as a species dedicated to dehumanizing people, whether it be by elevation or denigration and that is why so many prophets and holy men have preached empathy, understanding and forgiveness. I guess this is what happens when an intelligent species develops sight generally focused outwardly instead of inwardly as well.
Interesting read on a topic I thought a lot about when I was younger. I could never understand how "white" Jesus was portrayed to be when clearly, he was likely not so. What's your take on the Satan/Obama likeness? Do you think it's intentional? Do you think it even looks like Obama?
I don't feel comfortable commenting on whether or not it was intentional. However, it is characteristic of people in the western world to depict "bad characters" as dark and/or black. I just thought this piece did a fantastic job of explaining how history and demography can impact the politics of historical racial representation. The bible is not the only time that this gets in the way of knowing the actual ethnic identity of past peoples. This is frequently a battleground that many Egyptologists must encounter as well. I think it is clear that "race" in central Eurasia and North Africa during ancient times (B.C.E. and early C.E.) did not exist (or matter) in the same way that it does today. I think the modern concept of race was developed during the colonial era because people started to observe phenotypic differences that were no longer changing in gradient form (as they did if a European travelled east into Asia or south into North Africa by foot or on horseback). As a way to make sense of these seemingly abrupt and vast population differences - they started to make firm bounded categories of people that didn't actually exist.