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31 reviews for:
The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America
Paul Harvey, Edward J. Blum
3.84 AVERAGE
31 reviews for:
The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America
Paul Harvey, Edward J. Blum
3.84 AVERAGE
dark
informative
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
Harvey revealed a history of Jesus in America I never knew before. Intertwined with history and hints of satire, there was something interesting on every page. As a Christian, it made me question my own perceptions of Jesus and how I grew up only seeing images of a white Christ. It all makes sense now.
Fascinating topic, comprehensively explored with an intense number of stories and facts (but sidestepping much analysis, for better or worse).
Pop quiz: What did Jesus look like? Most people would answer that he was tall, white with light brown, straight hair, a beard and blue eyes, sort of Nordic-looking. Where did we get this idea (and why do so many people believe it) when we know he was Jewish and not from anywhere near Norway?
"The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America" does a great job answering this question. You don't need to be religious or even Christian to enjoy this look at the history and evolution of Jesus' appearance in the US. I especially enjoyed the sections on the Puritans, African Americans' view about Jesus' appearance, and the last two chapters of the book that recounted more recent history including popular movies such as Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" as well as lower-brow TV sitcom episodes from "All in the Family" to "South Park."
The one bummer for me was the relative lack of photos. There just weren't nearly enough. When a book is all about someone's appearance, you really need more photos of the paintings and etc. that the authors mention than was presented in the book. I'm a huge lover of paper books, but probably reading this book on an e-reader would be pretty handy because you could Google the artworks they reference as you're reading.
An Informative, well-written and entertaining read. I recommend it.
"The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America" does a great job answering this question. You don't need to be religious or even Christian to enjoy this look at the history and evolution of Jesus' appearance in the US. I especially enjoyed the sections on the Puritans, African Americans' view about Jesus' appearance, and the last two chapters of the book that recounted more recent history including popular movies such as Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" as well as lower-brow TV sitcom episodes from "All in the Family" to "South Park."
The one bummer for me was the relative lack of photos. There just weren't nearly enough. When a book is all about someone's appearance, you really need more photos of the paintings and etc. that the authors mention than was presented in the book. I'm a huge lover of paper books, but probably reading this book on an e-reader would be pretty handy because you could Google the artworks they reference as you're reading.
An Informative, well-written and entertaining read. I recommend it.
informative
I had high hopes before listening, my hopes lowered as I got into it, but it ended up better than I expected. Needed more on modern depictions of non-white Jesus.
I hoped for so much from this book. I was disappointed. While the earlier parts of the book Take the reader through a horrific journey of the intentional depiction of Christ as white by Christians, it quickly devolved into a summary of all cultural references to Christ. This summary describes TV shows magazine articles and the like in vivid detail, some of which have to do with the portrayal of Christ as white. Many of them do not. There’s far too much detail overall in this book, such that it becomes quite overwhelming without advancing the reader on his or her journey toward getting woke or toward any sort of racial reconciliation.
Moreover, I listened to the audiobook. The narrator uses different voices when quoting from different texts. While I understand that there’s sometimes can enhance the listeners enjoyment of a book, far too often white people are voiced in effeminate, fake southern, and other voices which seek to ridicule them. It is not a narrator’s job to do this, but the readers.
Overall, between the narrator and the ridiculous amount of irrelevant detail to what I hoped would be a very important point theologically, I found this book incredibly annoying.
Merged review:
I hoped for so much from this book. I was disappointed. While the earlier parts of the book Take the reader through a horrific journey of the intentional depiction of Christ as white by Christians, it quickly devolved into a summary of all cultural references to Christ. This summary describes TV shows magazine articles and the like in vivid detail, some of which have to do with the portrayal of Christ as white. Many of them do not. There’s far too much detail overall in this book, such that it becomes quite overwhelming without advancing the reader on his or her journey toward getting woke or toward any sort of racial reconciliation.
Moreover, I listened to the audiobook. The narrator uses different voices when quoting from different texts. While I understand that there’s sometimes can enhance the listeners enjoyment of a book, far too often white people are voiced in effeminate, fake southern, and other voices which seek to ridicule them. It is not a narrator’s job to do this, but the readers.
Overall, between the narrator and the ridiculous amount of irrelevant detail to what I hoped would be a very important point theologically, I found this book incredibly annoying.
Moreover, I listened to the audiobook. The narrator uses different voices when quoting from different texts. While I understand that there’s sometimes can enhance the listeners enjoyment of a book, far too often white people are voiced in effeminate, fake southern, and other voices which seek to ridicule them. It is not a narrator’s job to do this, but the readers.
Overall, between the narrator and the ridiculous amount of irrelevant detail to what I hoped would be a very important point theologically, I found this book incredibly annoying.
Merged review:
I hoped for so much from this book. I was disappointed. While the earlier parts of the book Take the reader through a horrific journey of the intentional depiction of Christ as white by Christians, it quickly devolved into a summary of all cultural references to Christ. This summary describes TV shows magazine articles and the like in vivid detail, some of which have to do with the portrayal of Christ as white. Many of them do not. There’s far too much detail overall in this book, such that it becomes quite overwhelming without advancing the reader on his or her journey toward getting woke or toward any sort of racial reconciliation.
Moreover, I listened to the audiobook. The narrator uses different voices when quoting from different texts. While I understand that there’s sometimes can enhance the listeners enjoyment of a book, far too often white people are voiced in effeminate, fake southern, and other voices which seek to ridicule them. It is not a narrator’s job to do this, but the readers.
Overall, between the narrator and the ridiculous amount of irrelevant detail to what I hoped would be a very important point theologically, I found this book incredibly annoying.