Imagining Jesus

With all of the discussions that we have been having in class and reading chapters of The Color of Christ, the topic of imaging or picturing Christ in different ways has really opened my eyes as to how people portray Christ.

One of the highlights from yesterday's class was watching the tv show clip (I forgot what the title was called). Although many of us found it humorous, it certainly stood out to me because it demonstrates how different people imagine Jesus in different ways. The child was convinced that his family should have a portrait of a "black Jesus" because his family is black (not to mention his interpretation of the Bible). Yes, the language from the movie is old, and no, we will likely not find too many "black Jesus" portraits hanging around, but the scene captivated my attention because I never considered how people racially different from me imagine Christ. It was also interesting to see some racially neutral images of Christ, images where we couldn't be positive if Christ was white or black.

As college students, we meet people from all different backgrounds (although I don't think Elon is diverse as they claim to be). Do you think various Christian college students imagine Christ in different ways? If so, what influences them? Race, pictures or portraits in their homes, etc?

I ask this because much of our conversation seems to be discussing how people imagine Christ based on race rather than other factors that may contribute to why Christ is pictured in different ways. I could be wrong, and if so, please comment below!

I am looking forward to attending the movie screening on Tuesday!