The Color Of Christ Book Review

Ambivalence of the Sacred Religion is embedded in our culture and it influences how we see certain things. Christianity and the images of Jesus had played a huge part in early colonial America. “The Color of Christ” is a book written by Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey that provides a great insight on how race, religion and power play an important role in American history. Sometimes, Jesus figure will be used to give certain groups for unequal treatment, while other times it will give strength to other groups to rise up against that inequality. This books explains how different ethnic groups used physical form of Jesus toward their advantage and in some cases it was used against another group.Nevertheless, “The Color of Christ” provide detail on how English Colonist used Jesus as a symbol to justify racial supremacy and white supremacy to form early America. In Chapter 1 When Christ Crossed the Atlantic, depiction of Jesus is used to justify racial supremacy. Before the eighteenth century was the time …show more content…
During the eighteenth century was the time when people starting portraying pictures of White Jesus everywhere. Instead of seeing Jesus as a symbol of light, he was used to justify the violence of white supremacist. Blum stated that when one Native American interacted with English people he said, “I found them to be Most Tyranacal, Cruel, and inhuman oppressors of their Fellow Creature in the World” (59). English people considered themselves superior than Native Americans and African Americans because portraying Jesus figure whiteness made them superior to other people with different skin tone. If whiteness is associated with Jesus, then white people must be pure and better than other people. However, Jesus icon will be questioned in nineteenth century when people will fight for unity. People would want a Jesus that would appeal to everyone not just