• Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I’d be shocked if they put that much thought into it. It’s probably just good old unconscious ethnocentrism. Jesus is white because I’m white and that’s my default setting to view the world.

    • x0x7@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Or because at that time they only knew white people so they assumed he looks like a person.

      It doesn’t even have to be some subconscious ethnocentrism. It could just be someone painting what they know people to look like.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        There’s quite a bit of evidence they knew what other people looked like. Western Christianity goes big in Italy and they have regular trade contact with the Levant and Northern Africa.

        That trade contact comes to the entirety of Europe thanks to the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire.

        • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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          2 days ago

          thanks i guess lol, i was pretty young when i first heard it and it’s a pretty useful model so i like to share :)

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            If you like that sort of thing then there’s a ton of philosopher stuff available online. You just really need to make sure of what they mean when they use certain words. Like, Locke was not talking about universal healthcare when he said a government has a duty to take care of the health and welfare of it’s people. (But I did have a fun time arguing that he would have been in favor of it with my professor.)

    • finestnothing@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Nope! Renaissance painters just really liked their white twink lovers and used them as their models

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Do we have evidence the Renaissance white washed the Bible? Or were they just enthusiastically following what was already the idea?