Posted on 11/05/2002 2:05:43 AM PST by Timesink
n the universe of male subjects for magazine covers, there are only a few sure things. Ben Affleck is a winner, and George Clooney is always a good bet to do well on the newsstand. But few can anchor a magazine like Jesus, a cover subject who brings them back year after year, particularly for news magazines like Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report.
Now the appeal of Jesus has found a surprisingly new home — the cover of Popular Mechanics.
The December issue of Popular Mechanics, which is owned by the Hearst Corporation and is scheduled to be on newsstands next week, features on the front a shadowy figure looming behind a headline that promises, "The Real Face of Jesus." Inside, there is a conjured figure with dark skin, a bushy beard and curly hair. Using the tools of forensic anthropology, scientists in the accompanying article concluded that the historical depiction of Jesus as a white man with flowing locks was inaccurate.
"If you look at the history of the magazine, we have been explaining how the world works for 100 years," said Joe Oldham, editor in chief of Popular Mechanics, who came up with the idea for the article. "Our story demonstrated advances in the field of forensic anthropology."
Popular Mechanics and its scientific collaborators overlaid biblical descriptions and computerized tomography, a type of X-ray photography, on a Semite skull from the historical era of Jesus to make informed guesses about how he looked. One of the more surprising findings suggested that Jesus was a small man, 5 foot 1, and weighed about 110 pounds.
While it might be odd for a magazine that features terrorist-hunting robots to turn to Jesus, Mr. Oldham defends the choice. "I knew that Jesus had been successful for other magazines," he said. "I know a bandwagon when I see one, and as long as our approach fit our editorial mission, I was happy to get on it."
I've always figured that the sallow, effeminate depictions of Jesus weren't right. After all, the guy was a carpenter in a time when everything was done by hand.
He'd have had big, strong, workman's hands and arms. He'd have had a face that was sharp-featured like the image on the Shroud of Turin -- something to set him apart.
He apparently met the expectations of those who though of the Messiah as a military conqueror -- meaning he was probably not smaller than average, possibly larger -- he certainly had whatever it is about natural leaders that fairly shouts, "follow me."
Joseph Lieberman, Paul Newman, Ted Koppel, Harrison Ford, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Kirk Douglas, Kevin Costner, Stephen Breyer, Yitzhak Rabin, Michael Landon, Lorne Greene, Mike Wallace, Benjamin Netanyahu, William Shatner, Douglas Fairbanks, Cary Grant, Leonard Bernstein, Paul Simon, Ariel Sharon, David Frost, Morley Safer, Ari Fleischer,
Steve Balmer, Jack Benny, Alan King, Casper Weinberger, Carl Reiner, George Burns, Red Buttons, Sam Levinson, Bernard Goldberg, Robert Downey Jr., Dustin Hoffman, Michael Douglas, Peter Sellers, Tony Curtis, Edward G. Robinson, Wolf Blitzer, Mel Torme, Paul Wellstone, Peter Falk, Leonard Nimoy, Jerry Springer, Arlen Spector, William Cohen,
Barry Goldwater, Robert Rubin, William Roth, Howard Metzenbaum, Hyman Rickover, Robert Reich, Russ Feinberg, Stanley Mosk, Arthur Burns, Milton Friedman, Bill Kristol, Victor Borge, William Kristol, Warren Rudman, etc.
Click on My LostTribe Screen Profile for the reason why.
Maybe. But there is no Biblical evidence whatever to support the myth that he spent his life (after age 12) pounding nails.
Not true. Mark 6:3 says, "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph,[1] Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
At any rate, we do know he didn't really make an appearance as a spiritual leader until the wedding at Cana -- he had to have done something before then, and given that Joseph was a carpenter, it's reasonable to assume Jesus was, too.
IY?
Jesus got a fast car
He's got a ticket to anywhere
Maybe you can make a deal
Maybe together you can get somewhere...
No, the Times is cool. It's the Washington Post that's all anal-retentive.
Thus "What Would Jesus Do It Yourself"
For this you need forensic anthropology, whatever that is?
The Jesus, Mary, etc look Italian in paintings by Da Vinci, but German in paintings by Friedrich. Something about painting from posed living models, maybe?
There is a Biblical foundation for Jesus being very unattractive.
Isaiah 52:2 "...he had no form or comliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him." Vs. "...as one from whom men hide their faces..."(Revised Standard Edition.)
Are you gonna go my way?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.