"From apocalyptic firebrand to mystical faith healer to political insurrectionist, the various images of Jesus are celebrated and defended by true believers of every theological and political stripe. Walk into the narthex of any number of Protestant churches and you’re likely to find the sentimental blue-eyed, pink-skinned Jesus of artist Warner Sallman gazing beatifically upon your comings and goings. Enter the neighboring Catholic church and you’ll probably find the image of a beaten, bleeding, emaciated man suffering on a cross.
From the Gospels to illustrated Bible storybooks to portrayals in film, Jesus has been the subject of considerable “spin” over the ages. Each tradition and each individual puts their own emphasis on this remarkable figure. For many middleclass Americans, the ideal Jesus is the gentle, upstanding, right-thinking (and often somewhat androgynous) suburbanite with good posture. The notion that Jesus might have been a short, dark, Middle-Eastern peasant rabble-rouser is so far from many people’s capacity to comprehend, that all reason is rejected in favor of the gauzy Aryan visions of early childhood. A blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus, meek and mild, is such a stalwart icon of Western culture, that to suggest anything contrary or corrective to that image is tantamount to heresy."
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