THE CHRONICLE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
By Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey
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| Photo illustration by Bob McGrath |
If these two Christ icons could stand side-by-side, their differences could not be more startling. One is huge and authoritative; the other reserved and contemplative. One showcases power, the other suffering. Together, they illustrate how the image of Jesus has played a vital role in American debates about race, political power, and social justice. The story of the color of Christ is the story of a Jesus made white, challenged by rival figures contending with white supremacy—like the black Jesus now looking down from the window of the 16th Street Baptist Church—and re-formed in a different color. As recent presidential elections remind us, it is also a story still unfolding. Although the image of the white Christ has a varied, sometimes sordid history in the United States, it is the default image. It is there even when being challenged, mocked, and parodied. [
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A stained-glass window in the 16th Street Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Ala.,
was installed in 1965 to replace one destroyed in a racially motivated bombing in 1963. |
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