God in the Flesh (Incarnation): Difference between revisions

The image of Jesus depicted in Western culture for centuries has been a white man with long hairs and blue eyes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.history.com/news/what-did-jesus-look-like |title=The Ongoing Mystery of Jesus's Face |website=HISTORY |publisher=  |date= |year= |author= |page= |series= |isbn= |quote=For centuries, the most common image of Jesus Christ, at least in Western cultures, has been that of a bearded, fair-skinned man with long, wavy, light brown or blond hair and (often) blue eyes.}}</ref> Since the 4th century, the culture of the Byzantine Empire influenced the [https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=1623331&cid=69168&categoryId=50768 Eastern Church], and [https://ko.wikisource.org/wiki/%EA%B8%80%EB%A1%9C%EB%B2%8C_%EC%84%B8%EA%B3%84_%EB%8C%80%EB%B0%B1%EA%B3%BC%EC%82%AC%EC%A0%84/%EC%84%B8%EA%B3%84%EB%AF%B8%EC%88%A0/%EC%84%9C%EC%96%91%EB%AF%B8%EC%88%A0%EC%9D%98_%ED%9D%90%EB%A6%84/%EC%A4%91_%EC%84%B8_%EB%AF%B8_%EC%88%A0/%EB%B9%84%EC%9E%94%ED%8B%B4_%EB%AF%B8%EC%88%A0 Byzantine artists] borrowed the strong and powerful images of the gods in the [https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=3406878&cid=58425&categoryId=58425 Roman Pantheon] to depict Jesus. Around the 6th century, ''[https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=264655&cid=42635&categoryId=42635 Christ Pantocrator]'' introduced Jesus as a man with shoulder-length hair and a beard. Later, during the [https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=1089262&cid=40942&categoryId=33440 Renaissance] era, when the artworks were based on humanism, they began to depict Jesus who had the ideal beauty standards. The Renaissance culture had an influence on the image of Jesus in the Western society in the 20th century. A typical example is the portrait of Jesus, painted by Warner Sallman, an American commercial artist. This painting was used as an image for stained glass and calendars, and it gained great popularity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35120965 |title=What did Jesus really look like? |website=BBC NEWS |publisher=  |date=December 24, 2015 |year= |author= |page= |series= |isbn= |quote= }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.history.com/news/what-did-jesus-look-like |title=The Ongoing Mystery of Jesus's Face |website=HISTORY |publisher=  |date= |year= |author= |page= |series= |isbn= |quote=The long-haired, bearded image of Jesus that emerged beginning in the fourth century A.D. was influenced heavily by representations of Greek and Roman gods, particularly the all-powerful Greek god Zeus. At that point, Jesus started to appear in a long robe, seated on a throne (such as in the fifth-century mosaic on the altar of the Santa Pudenziana church in Rome), sometimes with a halo surrounding his head.}}</ref>   

Like this, Jesus’ majestic and mystic appearance and image with a halo has been fixed for a long time. Therefore, the typical image of Jesus that people think of is the distorted image created by the age and culture;<ref>{{Cite book |url= |title=What Did Jesus Look Like? |website= |publisher= Bloomsbury T&T Clark |date=February 8, 2018 |year= |author=Joan E. Taylor, |page=72 |series=Illustrated edition |isbn=|quote= }}</ref> it is different from the appearance of Jesus recorded in the Bible. The Bible describes that He was like a root out of dry ground and had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him.