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| Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby Source: Rebel Priest |
From The Jerusalem Post: The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the Anglican Church should reconsider its portrayal of Jesus as a white man.
It is not clear for whom he was speaking when he expressed his belief that Anglicans thought of the Son of God as a white man. The archbishop and most of his trendy episcopal colleagues long since abandoned the faith as orthodox Anglicans along with the Church in Wales and the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC), both of which have become irrelevant as Churches for the faithful.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Justin Welby said that in light of the Black Lives Matter protests, the West needed to question whether the traditional portrayal of Jesus as a white man by Western churches was the correct approach to take.
It is not clear for whom he was speaking when he expressed his belief that Anglicans thought of the Son of God as a white man. The archbishop and most of his trendy episcopal colleagues long since abandoned the faith as orthodox Anglicans along with the Church in Wales and the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC), both of which have become irrelevant as Churches for the faithful.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Justin Welby said that in light of the Black Lives Matter protests, the West needed to question whether the traditional portrayal of Jesus as a white man by Western churches was the correct approach to take.
The archbishop added, “Jesus is portrayed in as many ways as there are cultures, languages and understandings." He did not think that "throwing out everything we’ve got in the past is the way to do it" but thought "that’s not the Jesus who exists, that’s not who we worship. It is a reminder of the universality of the God who became fully human.”
Commenting on the Black Lives Matter campaign to remove statues to figures deemed controversial, he said that people should forgive the 'trespasses' of those who were being commemorated, rather than remove statues, but added that the church would be reviewing the monuments it holds.
When asked if people should forgive the trespasses of those immortalised in the form of statues, rather than tearing them down, Welby said: "Some will have to come down. We can only do that if we've got justice, which means the statue needs to be put in context.
"Some names will have to change. The church, goodness me you know, you just go around Canterbury Cathedral, there are monuments everywhere or Westminster Abbey, and we're looking at all that, and some will have to come down."
Described as the Woke Archbishop the Archbishop of Canterbury, Welby is “ashamed of our history” and of his supposed advantages as a straight white male.
He has become leader of the self loathing brigade, apologising for anything and everything in the past that is questioned in the woke culture.
He preaches the gospel of woke and slanders his own flock. With no supporting evidence he asserted "There is no doubt," that "when we look at our own Church we are still deeply institutionally racist."
Bending the knee to the latest trend is not leadership. It is capitulation.
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| Source: BBC/LORNA MAY WADSWORTH |
It encourages gestures such as that in St Albans Cathedral where a copy of a picture of the Last Supper showing a black Jesus was placed at an altar "in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement" presumably without knowing what the BLM movement stands for.
According to BBC News the artist used a Jamaican-born model for the basis of her interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci's 15th Century work because she wanted "to make people question the Western myth that [Jesus Christ] had fair hair and blue eyes".
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| Jacob Epstein's 'Christ in Majesty' |
If someone in a free society objects to a work they are at liberty to criticise it. Once gone the opportunity for criticism is lost, along with the hard won freedoms which allow extremist pressure groups to behave as they do.
The example of ISIS destroying artefacts they disliked should be a warning of the destructive power now being unleashed, something religious leaders should be speaking against, not for.
Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew born in Bethlehem of Judea. He would have been neither black nor white but somewhere in between - see So what colour was Jesus?
As the Religious News Service (RNS) aptly put it: We can’t cancel ‘white Jesus,’ but we can keep telling our church’s story.
Jesus wasn't aluminium either but the Majestas in Llandaff is aluminium in colour so does that have to go too? Most people I know in Llandaff would be glad to see it consigned to gathering dust in some backwater museum.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that there is an inherent tension between the human Jesus who, as AB rightly says, was a man born of a specific race in a specific place at a specific time (he wasn't Chinese, Indian or Norwegian for example); and the universal Christ who identifies with all people whatever their race, colour, gender, social status or whatever. Please don't think I'm trying to drive a theological wedge between the two when I say that: I believe Jesus to be the Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
ReplyDeleteHowever the difficulty comes when we try to depict Jesus. For he clearly wasn't the golden-haired figure like a member of Abba which I tried to get removed from the Sunday School room of one church I served; nor was he a 15th-century Italian, nor African nor the idealised image portrayed by Millais in "Christ in the house of his parents". So do we then only portray Jesus as the Jewish man, so denying his universality; or do we attempt to portray him as something else - even a woman! - to contextualise him to different peoples' life situations. There can be no "right" answer to that dilemma.
I do think, however, that there has been a tendency to think of Christianity as a European religion - which of course it isn't, although it has sadly often been associated with European empires. So there may be a need to depict Christ in ways which both challenge our cosy prejudices and also the impression which may have been given to those in other cultures. It's not about being "trendy" or "capitulation" - it's about being thoughtful in the way we present our Saviour to the people of the world.
I agree entirely with that.
DeleteThe new Archbishop of York has joined in by declaring that Jesus was black. The rector of Great St Barts Smithfield, Father Marcus Walker, has written an excoriating piece just published in the Spectator and free to read for non subscribers. He begins:
ReplyDeleteSo when did your family convert to Christianity?’ asked an American General early on in the occupation of Iraq. ‘About two thousand years ago,’ replied the Iraqi. The Middle Eastern culture and context of Christ is something that the Western Church seems happy to forget. That Jesus was very specifically a Jew is something we have found even more difficult – as Christianity’s uncomfortable bouts of anti-Semitism have shown. It is because of this that the new Archbishop of York’s claim this week in an interview with the Sunday Times that ‘Jesus was a black man’ is so unfortunate." Father Marcus knows whereof he speaks. He was born and raised in Jerusalem.
Cymraes yn Lloegr
ps public worship in England became permissible again last Sunday. My local church remains locked except on Sunday the vicar celebrated communion there on his own. He refused to allow anyone else in. This will continue for some weeks and circumvents the necessity of obtaining a dispensation from the bishop. At least six other clergy opened for public worship and either no-one turned up or attendance was an average of 10% of normal.
Is this a new attempt by Justin Welby of evangelism?
ReplyDeleteThe Archbishop,having studied for a history degree should know that within history there is a good deal of scope for interpretation.
In large part,Europeans relied on African tribal leaders to capture Africans and bring them to the ports; the Europeans did not enter the West and Central African interior to capture Africans,with some early exceptions.
Slavery already was part of African society in the 16 Century, and it is believed by some historians that Europeans took advantage of a pre-existing slave trade and that African leaders cooperated with the Europeans for profit. African leaders negotiated their own interest and profit.
Although slavery is now illegal throughout the world,it is estimated that 40 million people are victims of modern day slavery, that is more than those caught up in the Atlantic slave trade.
Justin Welby’s personal interpretation of history and his kowtowing to those jumping on the bandwagon of BLM by talking about removing some white statues in Westminster Abbey,merely serves to satisfy the ignorance of some,and serves to ignore the evils of the present day.
Given the entire absence in the Christian tradition of of any physical description of Jesus, I suspect that the European tendency to 'blanch' him in art may arise from the very ancient - at least as old as the sixth century, as witnessed by Gregory the Great - notion that angels are blonde. It isn't a huge jump to presume that the Man from Heaven might resemble them.
ReplyDeleteIs Anglicanism dead? It is sadly at least in need critical care or it soon will be.
ReplyDelete