THE CHRISTIAN West refuses to come to terms with the reality of a black Jesus of African origin.
Bishop Talbert Swan explains why.
“As Dr Freddie Haynes says, white Christians have been so busy being white they’ve never got around to being Christian.
“Their religion is actually white supremacy. I often say that white Christianity is nothing but white supremacy in drag.”
Bishop Talbert Swan is a larger-than life character, an outspoken voice on social media, and a preacher not only of the faith but also of voting reform and ending police brutality.
Speaking to The Voice, he quickly warmed to his theme.
“You can’t give a historically accurate depiction of Christ as a dark skinned man living in Africa, and then push white supremacy, because it automatically debunks that myth.
Jesus was a black Palestinian Jew, who was lynched by the government because he was looked at as someone who was subversive to their system.”
Swan doesn’t mince his words, insisting Jesus Christ was a revolutionary black man, assassinated by the Roman Empire.
He said Jesus spoke for the poor, was a champion of justice, and was born in Bethlehem where his descendants remain persecuted to this day.
Jesus’ mother Mary was black. And so too were many biblical figures featured in the Bible.
Swan adds that had Jesus been alive in 1950s America, he’d have been made to sit at the back of the bus with the approval of many Christians.
Had Jesus been alive today, fleeing to modern Britain instead of Egypt, he may have found himself deported to Rwanda.
For some, all this might seem controversial, especially to those who view challenging the idea of a white Jesus as rocking the boat.
“Beside scripture and revelation which talks about feet like burnished brass, hair like lamb’s wool, when you look into the genealogy in the book of Luke, and the women in his genealogy like Rahab the Harlot, who was clearly a Caainanite, a black women.
“Tamar, a black woman, and the queen of Sheba a black woman. You’re saying that Jesus had these black folk in his genealogy, but somehow he came out as a blonde haired blue eyed white man?
“Abraham was born in the city of a black man, Nimrod. In the book of the songs of Solomon, Solomon says “I am black but handsome”. So there’s all kinds of references that speak to blackness of the ancestors of Christ.
“You can’t get away from the fact that biblical scholars, the historians and others all corroborate that these were not European folks that lived in that region.
“It’s only when you get to Hollywood that you get to Charlton Heston being Moses and Yul Brynner playing Pharaohs, films like the Passion of the Christ, that you see all of these white folks living in the middle of Africa”
Swan’s belief that Jesus was black is not a conclusion he acquired after studying black history, or even meeting the right teacher.
“We grew up with an understanding of who Jesus was, not just from a spiritual perspective but from a historical and cultural context.
“But during that time, there was no such thing as the Middle East. The term Middle East was only coined in the 1850s, after the Suez Canal was built that separated North East Africa from what they now call the Middle East. People who lived in the region at that time looked like us. We were vocal in speaking about it and challenging the depictions that we saw”
Born in Springfield Massachusetts, where he still resides, Bishop Talbert Swan gave his first sermon at age 15. One of his early memories is of campaigning for his uncle, Benjamin Swan, who served as a house representative between 2009 and 2016.
Like the radical preachers before him, from Nat Turner to Sam Sharpe, through to Reverend Martin Luther King, Swan was never going to preach a watered down whitewashed version of Christianity.
He doesn’t hold back either, in bringing the heat to the doorstep of both the Democrats and Republicans, arguing that both parties are steeped in racism.
This is a familiar tale too for UK black communities, who continually see race equality neglected from all sides, but are nonetheless expected to turn up at the ballot, like obedient lambs.
Bishop Swan’s message too, is of hope for black people across the diaspora and a call for Churches to unite around the true teachings of Jesus.
“We’re not free here, if you’re in bondage over there in the UK. You’re not free there if we’re in bondage here in America. We’re not free if black people are in bondage in the Caribbean and they’re not free if black people in Mexico are not free.
“We’ve got to really fight for justice and freedom for our people across the diaspora no matter where on the globe that we are.”
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Serious opposition to an African appearing Semitic Messiah comes chiefly from African, African-American, and African-Caribbean Christians; who keep telling me the Messiah’s skin-colour is of no importance, but will not display an African appearing Semitic Messiah in their home or Church.
No culture can prosper culturally; theologically, psychologically or politically by assimilating the gods and values of their oppressors.
The Viking as a tremendously successful nation, died the moment they abandon their native gods and cultural beliefs, and adopted Western Caucasian Pope controlled Christianity.
This is the reason why Africans, and African Americans, and African-Caribbean people have declined into delinquency and political; economic, theological and cultural irrelevance.
Africans have abandoned their native culture in exchange for Caucasian Western Christianity, and Arabic Islam.
We will never prosper whilst we continue to embrace these foreign religions, and foreign political and economic values.
Well said Chaka Artwell!
I dont know if the race or skin color of Jesus Matters: He is my Lord and Savior and he died for the forgiveness of sins. That’s enough for me. Men can lie, women can lie and argue about Jesus’ skin color, eye colors, hair length etc… But the Bible is true.
If we look at scripture we see that Jesus Christ and the Israelite peoples of the bible are described as being White in appearance. e.g. King David is described as “Ruddy” in 1 Samuel 16:12 and 1 Samuel 17:42. The Lord Jesus Christ is a descendant of King David, via his mother the Blessed Virgin Mary,who was of the lineage of David (Psalm 132:11; Luke 1:32). Ruddy: having a healthy REDDISH COLOR. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ruddy
The Israelites are described as “White” and “Ruddy” in Song of Solomon 5:10 “MY BELOVED IS WHITE AND RUDDY, the chiefest among ten thousand.” In Revelation 1:14, Jesus Christ is described as having a head that is “WHITE AS SNOW” (Head includes face). The Nazarites are described as being “purer than snow, WHITER THAN MILK,” in Lamentations 4:7. (Nazarites = Israelites, See Numbers 6:2)
I enjoyed this provocative piece on the physical appearance of Jesus. When modern-day artists depict him with blond hair and blue eyes, are they being ethnocentric?
In fact, it’s possible that they are correct.
To be sure, Jesus came out of the Jewish community of the eastern Mediterranean, and so it’s most likely that he had the dark complexion of the region.
But this isn’t entirely certain. The key thing to note is that Jesus came from Galilee rather than from Judea, and the population of Galilee had a tremendous mix of ethnic backgrounds.
I came to this issue while working on a book, The Single Gospel, which is a consolidated version of four canonical gospels, editing them together into a single narrative in chronological order. My goal was to create a text that will be easily accessible to the ordinary reader, whether reading it as a work of faith or a work of literature. Clarity was the key. I was therefore troubled by how to translate the non-intuitive phrase “Galilee of the gentiles,” or “Galilee where so many foreigners live.”
It turns out that Galilee was a place quite distinct from Judea. It is about eighty miles north of Jerusalem, with hilly country. Over the years it had been settled by many different people, including veterans of the army of Alexander the Great. In the years 104-03 B.C., Galilee had been reconquered by the Jewish ruler Aristobulus, and its inhabitants, many of whom were gentiles, were forced to convert to Judaism. Others no doubt converted voluntarily.
This complex history means that we know nothing for sure about the physical appearance of Jesus. While he unquestionably grew up in a family that was religiously and culturally Jewish, many parts of his family tree (apart from the particular lines of descent recorded in the gospels) could have been with any of the peoples of the Mediterranean basin.
Of course, as everyone will agree, physical appearance is a secondary issue, and the most important thing about Jesus is his mission and teaching.
But it’s interesting to speculate about nonetheless . . .
Neil Averitt
In the Song of Solomon, it’s not Solomon who says “I am black but comely” but his wife!!! She is addressing the daughters of Jerusalem and saying she had to work outside, in the fields, and so she is of a darker color. The Song of Solomon is a dialogue between man and wife! Or do you think Solomon, the son of King David, worked in the fields?? If Solomon was black, why would he mention it to the “daughters of Jerusalem”? If said daughters were black as well, why mention it??