When God Became White: Dismantling Whiteness for a More Just Christianity

by Grace Ji-Sun Kim

There was a lot of messaging and branding that went into how Jesus was depicted. For example, in a mosaic from Santa Pudenziana, the oldest surviving Catholic church in Rome, built between 384 and 398, Jesus was portrayed as “pantocrator” and as a ruler-judge at the end of the world. Jesus is presented to the world as an imperial leader wearing a lavish gold garment, which was classic Zeus and Jupiter clothing and not what Jesus most likely wore. His posture is also painted like imperial emperor Augustus, holding out his right arm to the viewer’s left as a gesture of law-maintaining authority. His long, baggy sleeves were inspired by the dalmatica worn by the upper classes in the Byzantine era. After this Byzantine period the imperial ruler image of Jesus was cemented and spread around the world through colonialism and missionaries.3 Jesus became molded into the images of the European leaders and their gods. This helped legitimize their power over their own people as well as others around the world through colonialism and domination.