2 of 3
Over the past century, popular images of Jesus have tried with varying degrees of success to restore the face of a man and even—a much slower process—of a hard-handed Jewish artisan. The blond Nordic Jesus of the Sunday school pictures has been difficult to eliminate. The story of visual development also tells us a great deal about the changing gender balance of American Christianity, the process of feminization and the subsequent reaction. When I read these accounts, I wonder if the rising churches of Africa or Asia will learn from Western mistakes, or if they will have to go through the whole process anew.
Just how dubious these material objects can be stretches the imagination. My personal favorite involves the popular groups of plastic figures showing a grinning Jesus joining in as children play various sports: Jesus in the Outfield. Looking at such campy items, it would be easy to dismiss them as irrelevant or even blasphemous. I have seen a statuette of Jesus as the base of a thermometer, with the bulb of red alcohol representing the Sacred Heart. But even the most tasteless items indicate the astonishing enthusiasm that exists for the figure of Jesus, the desire to bring Him into one's life and home environment. They also respond to a widespread need for material devotional tools that are not confined to the pages of books. Also, such visuals epitomize stereotypes better than a dozen books. Has trendy ultra-liberal Christianity ever been parodied so ruthlessly as in the loathsome, winking "Buddy Jesus" statue in the film Dogma?
The second half of Prothero's book explores "Reincarnations," versions of Jesus that wander further from the Christian fold. These include the Jesus of the Latter-Day Saints (the "Mormon Elder Brother"); Black Moses; "Rabbi"; and the Oriental Christ. In each case, Prothero shows the immense appeal of Jesus as a model for different faith traditions or ideologies, some of which (such as Hinduism) reject the Christian title. The section on Jewish views of Jesus is timely in light of current controversies over Mel Gibson's forthcoming film on the Crucifixion. (In these debates, it has been fascinating to see how the Gospels are criticized for their alleged anti-Semitism by Jews, certainly, but also by liberal and radical Christians like James Carroll.) All Prothero's discussions are valuable in their own right, and I will definitely use this provocative book as a text in classes on contemporary Christianity.
One broader question raised by American Jesus is just why so many traditions, some avowedly hostile to Western and Christian ideas, feel the need to refer to Jesus at all. Perhaps this indicates the cultural and religious hegemony of Christianity in American society, even among those who reject the religion forthrightly. I think of Garrison Keillor's declaration that the American Midwest is entirely Lutheran. Lutherans, of course, are Lutheran; Midwestern Catholics are also Lutheran; and atheists in that part of the world are Lutheran, since the God they don't believe in is a Lutheran God. In Christian-ascendant America, even social and theological revolutionaries launch their Jacqueries in the name of Jesus. Witness the influence of Christian and near-Christian ideas on Black American Islam, whether from Baptist thought, from the Jehovah's Witnesses, or from early 20th-century esoteric Christianity. But at the same time, the diversity of images is a tribute to America's religious spectrum. "Jesus became a major American personality because of the strength of Christianity," Prothero writes, "but he became a national celebrity only because of the power of religious dissent." This is all the more true in what is somehow at once "the most Christian and the most religiously diverse country on earth."
share this page
RSS Feed
