A Romanesque-Spanish painting of Christ from the 12th century

This trend is nothing new. Throughout the ages, the faithful -- and the unfaithful -- have tried to capture the image of Jesus. There are joyful images, sorrowful images, wrathful images, peaceful images -- each one reflecting some aspect of Jesus’ life and character, but never, it seems, the complete picture.

Perhaps science is bringing us closer to a truer view of God the Son as he may have looked when he put on human flesh. On Easter Sunday, the Discovery Channel aired a special about Jesus’ life, called “Jesus: The Complete Story.” The final segments of that program - and a huge chunk of the promotional effort for the special -- focused on Jesus’ appearance. Armed with the latest in forensics and computer modeling, scientists with the program reconstructed the image of a first-century man from Palestine who lived a life similar to Jesus and was around the age of Jesus when he died.

The picture to come forth from this research may shock many churchgoers. The reconstructed image of the first-century peasant from Palestine looks like nothing like the idealized visions so prominent in our art galleries. Neither Eastern Orthodox icons nor the Western European depictions bear any resemblance to this new image.

"Jesus of the People," a contemporary picture of Christ by Janet McKenzie

Perhaps this new scientific evidence will free Jesus from the Westernized, domesticated visions we have of him. Perhaps it will help us to see him more as he truly was, and less as the beatific image of Rembrandt’s or Bosch’s imaginations.

Other artists have tried to introduce us to a different view of Christ in recent years. One notable effort was Janet McKenzie’s “Jesus of the People,” which won the National Catholic Reporter’s “Jesus 2000” international art competition. The model for McKenzie’s image was a young African-American woman.

The “Jesus of the Week” site notwithstanding, this resurgence in “seeing” Christ is probably a good thing for the church at this pivotal time in our history. After all, the visual image is the primary unit of cultural currency today (Leonard Sweet, SoulTsunami, page 200). And for too long, we in the church have been a “people of the book,” and out of touch with the visually-driven culture that surrounds us.

Even so, I can’t help but be bothered just a bit by this focus on the image of Jesus. Didn’t the resurrected Jesus take his disciple Thomas to task for having to see in order to believe? “Because you have seen me, you have believed,” Jesus told Thomas. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (John 20:29)

And didn’t one of Jesus’ most ardent followers, Paul, instruct us to live “by faith, not by sight”? (2 Corinthians 5:7)

I find it interesting that none of the artwork of the early church included depictions of Jesus. The earliest representations are symbols, like the Chi Rho monogram or the ichthus symbol. In fact, no images of Jesus appear in artwork until some 200 years after his death. Furthermore, the gospels contain no reference to Jesus’ appearance. Perhaps that’s because they considered themselves not purveyors of a new religion but as Jews, and they held to the ancient Jewish teachings against graven images.

A mural of Christ in Los Angeles

Or perhaps the ancient followers of Jesus understood the faith better than we do today. Perhaps they understood that to follow Christ is to accept him on his own terms, not our own -- to live by faith, not by sight.

Andrew Careaga is the author of the books eMinistry: Connecting with the Net Generation (Kregel, 2001) and E-vangelism: Sharing the Gospel in Cyberspace (Vital Issues Press, 1999). He also is a volunteer youth minister at Salem Faith Assembly Church in Salem, Missouri.