WriterDom
Good to the last drop
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2000
- Posts
- 20,077
Reading this reminded me of going to church as a kid and seeing the "picture" of Jesus on the wall.
Documentary Questions Image of Jesus
Program Asks Why Many Think Jesus Was White
.c The Associated Press
LONDON (March 28) - Was Jesus dark-skinned? Was he actually born in a cave?
``Jesus: The Complete Story,'' a new documentary television series co-produced by the British Broadcasting Corp., considers these questions in its attempt at a purely scientific investigation into the Messiah of Christendom.
``The combination of new scientific and archaeological discoveries with a reevaluation of the historicity of the Gospels has allowed us to tell the story of Jesus in a fresh and exciting way,'' co-producer Michael Wakelin said of the three-part series, to begin broadcast April 1.
The documentary is to be broadcast in the United States in its entirety on April 15 on The Discovery Channel, which co-produced it.
For the series, a computer-generated image has been created to suggest what Jesus' face might have looked like, contrary to the fair-skinned and fine-featured image familiar since medieval times.
The new image was created by a forensic artist at the University of Manchester using the 2,000-year-old skull of a Jewish man from Israel. Cues on hair and skin tone were taken from frescoes of Jewish faces painted in the third century.
The result is a dark-skinned, curly-haired man with a round, robust face and a stout nose.
The idea of a darker Jesus is becoming more accepted by Catholics - a dark-skinned Jesus was selected in 1999 for a special millennium-edition of the American independent newsweekly, the National Catholic Reporter.
The series goes beyond the skin-tone question, challenging another widely accepted image of Jesus - his birth in a wooden stable. The program argues he was more likely born in a cave.
It also questions whether Judas betrayed Jesus to the Roman authorities, suggesting that a mistranslation could mask that fact that Jesus worked with Judas to provoke his own arrest.
Using diverse historical accounts the documentary weaves a tale of how a young carpenter may have been inspired to lead a pacifist rebellion against the establishment in Jerusalem, launching a religion now embraced by 2 billion people.
Documentary Questions Image of Jesus
Program Asks Why Many Think Jesus Was White
.c The Associated Press
LONDON (March 28) - Was Jesus dark-skinned? Was he actually born in a cave?
``Jesus: The Complete Story,'' a new documentary television series co-produced by the British Broadcasting Corp., considers these questions in its attempt at a purely scientific investigation into the Messiah of Christendom.
``The combination of new scientific and archaeological discoveries with a reevaluation of the historicity of the Gospels has allowed us to tell the story of Jesus in a fresh and exciting way,'' co-producer Michael Wakelin said of the three-part series, to begin broadcast April 1.
The documentary is to be broadcast in the United States in its entirety on April 15 on The Discovery Channel, which co-produced it.
For the series, a computer-generated image has been created to suggest what Jesus' face might have looked like, contrary to the fair-skinned and fine-featured image familiar since medieval times.
The new image was created by a forensic artist at the University of Manchester using the 2,000-year-old skull of a Jewish man from Israel. Cues on hair and skin tone were taken from frescoes of Jewish faces painted in the third century.
The result is a dark-skinned, curly-haired man with a round, robust face and a stout nose.
The idea of a darker Jesus is becoming more accepted by Catholics - a dark-skinned Jesus was selected in 1999 for a special millennium-edition of the American independent newsweekly, the National Catholic Reporter.
The series goes beyond the skin-tone question, challenging another widely accepted image of Jesus - his birth in a wooden stable. The program argues he was more likely born in a cave.
It also questions whether Judas betrayed Jesus to the Roman authorities, suggesting that a mistranslation could mask that fact that Jesus worked with Judas to provoke his own arrest.
Using diverse historical accounts the documentary weaves a tale of how a young carpenter may have been inspired to lead a pacifist rebellion against the establishment in Jerusalem, launching a religion now embraced by 2 billion people.
I close by saying this is surely a fascinating subject for anyone interested in history. Thanks WriterDom for calling it to our attention.
