Foreign

June 28, 2020

Archbishop Welby says Jesus should not be portrayed as white alone

Archbishop Welby says Jesus should not be portrayed as white alone

Vintage illustration of the Good Shepherd with Jesus holding a lamb; lithograph, 1930s. PHOTO: Getty Images

Vintage illustration of the Good Shepherd with Jesus holding a lamb; lithograph, 1930s. PHOTO: Getty Images

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby has recommended that Western churches should reconsider their portrayal of Jesus’ image.

According to Welby while speaking in a BBC Today Programme monitored by CNN, Jesus’ image does not necessarily has to be a white man. He said he has been to different countries and they portray the image of Jesus differently.

“You go into their churches and you don’t see a White Jesus — you see a Black Jesus, or Chinese Jesus, or a Middle Eastern Jesus — which is, of course, the most accurate.

“You see a Fijian Jesus — you see Jesus portrayed in as many ways as there are cultures, languages, and understandings.”

ALSO READ: Anglican leader, Justin Welby calls his Church ‘deeply institutionally racist’

Welby was replying to a question by the host on whether the way the western church “portrays Jesus” needed to be “thought about again” and “re-imagined” in light of recent Black Lives Matter protests across Europe following the death of a black man, George Floyd.

Clarifying his proposition, Welby stated that the representations of Jesus were not, however, “who we worship” but rather served as a “reminder of the universality of the God who became fully human.”

Vanguard News Nigeria.