Earliest Depictions of Jesus In Art

1,942 Views | 13 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by BluHorseShu
Rongagin71
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AG
Seems the earliest were NOT bearded, and one sported a magic wand...
but nothing less than 200 years after Christ is known to exist.

Earliest Depictions of Jesus in Art - YouTube
Sapper Redux
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All of which suggests the artists were Greek or Roman, or trying to appeal to those audiences.
Rongagin71
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We agree on that, and so does Matt Baker above.
nortex97
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Ok, what is your point though? I'm not going to watch a video but I assume this guy pulled a list together from elsewhere and questions why more artwork wasn't preserved from the initial 200 years after the crucifixion/resurrection.

What is undeniable is that the faith did spread rapidly, throughout the Roman Empire during this period, and though largely suppressed/persecuted, Christian symbologies in general didn't include images of Christ, which the followers hadn't seen in person in general, of course, but rather used the fish symbol/others in underground/house churches/gatherings.

Not much actual artwork from such a group would be expected to survive, just as original writings from this period didn't either (copies of copies of manuscripts are all we really have).

After the Edict of Milan of course we have a lot more material.
Rongagin71
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Yeah, my momma was a Church of Christ Sunday school teacher, so I got a lot of early training without anything to do with icons...so recently I went back through and looked at some religious artwork.
I liked this particular production by Baker in part because it has a surprise ending.
Serotonin
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Interesting video, thanks for posting.
LGBFJB
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This "self portrait" dated circa the Resurrection shows a bearded Jesus.

Interesting video. Thanks for sharing
TheDro
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My vision of Jesus which only lasted a second showed him as a ginger headed blue eyed man with the head similar to Mel Gibson in size, eyes spaced about the same, ginger or slightly blonde eyebrows, and a dirty blonde colored beard. His skin tone was olive, or tanned, wearing a hood just like Obi-Wan Kenobi, exact same color too... the dark brown, thickness was thinner of the hood, Hair pulled back into the hood.
Yukon Cornelius
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If the lack of artist depictions Is being used as an argument against the validity of Jesus I would say it's very lacking in understanding.

Exodus 20:4. One of the 10 commandments makes it clear imagines of things from heaven are forbidden. It's very likely the early church adhered to this principle.
kurt vonnegut
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Yukon Cornelius said:

If the lack of artist depictions Is being used as an argument against the validity of Jesus I would say it's very lacking in understanding.

Exodus 20:4. One of the 10 commandments makes it clear imagines of things from heaven are forbidden. It's very likely the early church adhered to this principle.

For me, the interesting part of this discussion has less to do with the quantity of art than it has to do with the malleability of what Jesus looked like to fit different cultures. Jesus' appearance is a superficial example of a bigger question about how religions work.
Yukon Cornelius
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I would say it's not an example of how religious works but how humanity works. Biases are always applied and inescapable.
Zobel
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That isn't what it means and can't be what it means, since a few passages later the Lord tells Moses to make images of cherubim (angels) for the cover of the ark. These were intended to be a copy of the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle, that is to say, they were images of of the cherubim at the throne of God in the heavens. In fact the entire tabernacle itself is an image of things from heaven.
one MEEN Ag
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Zobel said:

That isn't what it means and can't be what it means, since a few passages later the Lord tells Moses to make images of cherubim (angels) for the cover of the ark. These were intended to be a copy of the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle, that is to say, they were images of of the cherubim at the throne of God in the heavens. In fact the entire tabernacle itself is an image of things from heaven.
Sidenote for those playing at home, those cherubim had wings facing each other but there was nothing in the center of the arc surrounded by the wings. Part of the symbolism in the ark design is that other cultures would purposefully put a depiction of the idol dead center of the religious artifact.

The ark was purposefully showing that it isn't an idol. It did not have a depiction of God on it to be worshipped.

Coolest thing I've learned from Lord of Spirits/Whole Counsel of God about the ark.
BluHorseShu
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Yukon Cornelius said:

If the lack of artist depictions Is being used as an argument against the validity of Jesus I would say it's very lacking in understanding.

Exodus 20:4. One of the 10 commandments makes it clear imagines of things from heaven are forbidden. It's very likely the early church adhered to this principle.
Except God was saying we should not make any idols to worship. Statues, stained glass depictions of biblical history, the wearing of crosses does not fall under these things unless they are put in place of God. They remind us visually of God and his teachings. A hypothetical might be that if the actual cross Jesus was crucified on were unearthed and proven to be the actual one, I don't think most Christians would have it destroyed. Churches are images as well. Sure u might have some outliers who might worship the thing more than God…but the majority of people see images of God within the world itself. I certainly wouldn't want to take down the art my kids made in summer Bible camp
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