Jesus on the margin
Indoctrinated Jesus with his mother.
Jesus is dread?
Yohanna 14:2 “A chikin gidan ubana akwai wurin zama dayawa; da ba haka ba, da na fada muku; gama zan tafi garin in shirya maku wuri.” ( Da ka Litafi Mai-Tsarki , Hausa)
or In English,
John 14:2 “in my father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ” ( New Revised Standard Version)
Growing up in Nigeria my parents encouraged my siblings and I to attend Sunday School, there we learned stories from the Bible and also our teachers emphasized memorizing important scriptures. The passage I quoted is amongst the Bible verses that played a role in how I interpreted scripture as a young girl. After memorizing John 14:2 in Hausa, I was convinced that Jesus was a member of my family, the imagery that the passage created in my head gave me the comfort that I was in fact a child of God.
However, As I grow older, I noticed that the father of the many mansion which the scripture talked about was a long haired, pale skin, blue eyed man, he looked nothing like my family members. I recall asking my siblings while we were watching the popular “Jesus of Nazareth’ a film that narrated the primary gospels in Jesus’ Ministry: His Birth, death and Resurrection, I asked why is it that Jesus is White and satan a black snake? My siblings told me that, the Jesus in the film was simply a character but then I asked why is it then that He must be “bature” in Hause (white ), the answer to that question was interrupted with a call from mother to help her lift a bag of rice.
The quest to find out reasons as per why Jesus the father in the mansion with many rooms was white contributed to my decision to study Christian theology and Religion in general. As a young girl, I asked tough questions about Christology, desiring to know who Jesus was, why His ministry was important and what that meant for me, a black girl.
As I search for Jesus through my study and discourse with others, I discovered that there is in fact a Jesus who looked like me. This Jesus is portrait with dark complexion, long dread-locks and a body built like a football (soccer) player; however, this Jesus is found amongst the marginalized in our global family, those who believe in the up lift of black global family and the unity of mankind. The black Jesus has a presence amongst Afro-centric / African Independent Churches/ black Christians on the continent of Africa and in the diaspora. I read a number of articles and books regarding blacks interpretation of John 12:2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions …” B.G.M. Sundkler, argues in his 1961, “Bantu Prophets in South Africa” that the reason why blacks seem to be attracted to “Christ in their own image’, is due to the fact that they desired legitimacy or guarantee for the fate of their race (p.276). One could interpret Sundkler’s argument that Black Christians seem to want to take ownership of the Bible. To go further with the critique against depicting Christ as a black man, Pieter Oosthuuizen labels this tradition as “Post-Christian” which means it is neither Christian nor traditional. He believes the embracement of Christ as a Black man, their “ethnocentric features make them forfeit any claim to be the Church of Christ” ( See “ Black Messianism: Corruption or Contextualization?” In All things hold Together: Holistic Theologies of the African Grassroots” p.132).
To complement Oosthuuizen’s statement, Martin suggests that these sort of ideologies amongst black liberation theologians is rampant amongst South Africans and that they are faulty eschatology as well as false Christology, Pneumatology and ecclesiology” ( “ Black Messianism: Corruption or Contextualization?” In All things hold Together: Holistic Theologies of the African Grassroots”,p.133). In order words, if Christ is embodied by Africans then their claim to that narrative is un-Christian. M.L. Daneel , in response to the criticism against the Black Christ, calls for a deeper reflection by the theologians critics, expressing that Christ is not being replaced by Black Christians but rather a mirror through which they ( Black Christians) would want to be reflected (see “ Black Messianism: Corruption or Contextualization?” In All things hold Together: Holistic Theologies of the African Grassroots”p. 132) . As far as Daneel is concern the Christian calling is to desire for Christ to take over and to be reflected in the life of a believer .
I would say, the black Christ is an attempt from African Christians to make Christ relevant; they wished to experience Christ in their own language and in the image in which God created them, along side acknowledging Christ’s presence amongst those who don’t look like them. One must understand that, this Jesus of Nazareth that the gospel talks about is no “white man” , the reason why the white, pale Jesus is pervasive is due to the fact that, as a friend nicely expressed, ” those in power define who your God is and what that god must look like”, through the work of colonization/ globalization and world mission, Western Christians enforced Christ as a “white man”, that legacy still have a presence amongst Africans.
Those who dispute against portraying Jesus as a black man must not be aware of the history of Christianity on the continent of Africa. In order for Jesus Christ to be presence amongst all people, He should not be a distance white man who seem very disconnected with the reality of the African world.I would encourage parents to expose their children to a contexualized interpretation of scripture ( the Bible) because it would opportune them in seeing themselves as worthy human beings who were molded by the very hands of the God who they are growing to love, just as their white or brown counterparts. I would contend that this is the only way forward in continuation to build up black consciousness and the determination to look within for the empowerment of the community self.
©Copyright, Yoknyam Dabale
Dear Yoknyam,
Thank you for this moving blog post. I really like the images. When I see the white Jesus, I say to myself, “That’s not my Jesus.”
Thanks Bro. Ali ,
for sharing your thoughts, it is our job, academicians to attempt in enlightening ourselves and those beyond us for the empowerment of all people, by so doing we might all see ourselves as wo/men boys and girls created /love by the Supreme Being, despite our race, gender, sexual orientation, etc etc
Respect to you,
Yoknyam
Very well written and thought provoking piece of writing! As a black woman, the image of a black Christ is much more appealing than the white Christ. The Lord is Spirit and He is Truth. He belongs to the whole world, and not just white people. If they have represented His image to look like them, as white people, then how can they truly say that any other representation is false? This makes no sense whatsoever.
Sis. Anna,
you expressed important elements that this post attempts to convey,
From my reading some Africans ( blacks) don’t feel connected with the White Christ, however, they cling to the White-Christ as a move to look beyond the self, hoping for the distant God to rescue ( particularly the poor amongst us ) , in order words the White Jesus complements how the world is perpetuated by the elites, which means salvation equals to aid, equals to White equals to White Jesus….black is equals to war ( in terms of Africa), equals to rape, equals to destruction,….mind you there are black people who are comfortable with this image, I received protest regarding this piece apparently, the color of Christ doesn’t matter, those critics forgot that the whole point is not to claim Christ ethnicity as Black, rather it is the experiential Christ that we are talking about, encouraging our young black peoples who experience Christ in their own way to grow into loving themselves through the image of God….as Desmond Tutu would say, there is no one way of doing theology…theology must speak to the people in which it encounters….
Thank you for stopping by and contributing, wishing you a lovely day,
Yoknyam
I also found it weird that in Jesus Christ Superstar, Judas was a black man and no one else in the movie was like that. Why they gotta be that way?
Sister Sade,
you highlighted the point that the piece above attempts to do, it appears in some mainstream media, including that of the religious order, that “black” must be associated with evil, bad, negative etc etc. The reason why this is troubling to those of us trying to uplift our young black girls/boys is that they seem to believe those images perpetuate by media. Given we live in a world that raise its children mostly from the screen T.V, it is tough for one to say otherwise.
However, I would say that, it is our duty to keep encouraging one another by providing counter, factual, sound reflections , research so that our young ones would not see themselves as savages which is what mainstream does to their formation.I believe there is a way out, always forward, never give up.
I hope all is well with you dear sis,
loving thoughts alway from my end,
Yoknyam
Yok
YOU’RE MISSED!
-your chicken
black Jissas
Ohh pple
Listen to me
Christians europeans and Christians Arb don’t like to see Jesus Black.
It’s a psychic problem, Jesus is white, and christians didn’t like the White.
Ruturne to Story and be sincer with your self.
**** Acording to Gospel matthew, Jesus was sent only to Beni Israel, and he insult no jewish women as : DOG.
Non jewish are DOG for Biblical Jesus.
Weak up.
Hes black you fucking punkss
I asked a co-worker what if Jesus was black.. he said I would go to hell for such blasphemy. An argument soon commenced.
i dont not care the race in which jesus christ belongs to all what i care abt is the he died 4 me and took away ma sin,if jesus is white it doesnt mean all white people will go to heaven and if he is black it doesnt mean all black people will go to heaven. what matters is doing the will of the the one who sent him.jehovah,we should not create division in christianity but we must love one another
Please read before making comment that has nothing to do with what the author explains in simple terms. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to reading your reflections after you read the post.