Jesus

==Artistic depictions==
{{Main|Depiction of Jesus}}
[[File:Christ Healing the Paralytic - Dura-Europos circa 232.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Jesus healing a paralytic in one of the first known images of Jesus from [[Dura-Europos church|Dura Europos]] in the 3rd&nbsp;century<ref>{{cite web|title=Dura-Europos: Excavating Antiquity {{!}} Yale University Art Gallery|url=http://media.artgallery.yale.edu/duraeuropos/dura.html|website=media.artgallery.yale.edu|access-date=3 March 2017|archive-date=5 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505112511/http://media.artgallery.yale.edu/duraeuropos/dura.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>|alt=An ancient wall painting depicting Jesus|left]]
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The depiction of Jesus in art took several centuries to reach a conventional standardized form for his physical appearance, which has subsequently remained largely stable since that time. Most images of Jesus have in common a number of traits which are now almost universally associated with Jesus, although variants are seen.

The image of a fully bearded Jesus with long hair did not become established until the 6th century in [[Eastern Christianity]], and much later in the West. Earlier images were much more varied. Images of Jesus tend to show ethnic characteristics similar to those of the culture in which the image has been created. Beliefs that certain images are historically authentic, or have acquired an authoritative status from Church tradition, remain powerful among some of the faithful, in Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and Roman Catholicism. The [[Shroud of Turin]] is now the best-known example, although the [[Image of Edessa]] and the [[Veil of Veronica]] were better known in medieval times.!-->

Some of the earliest depictions of Jesus at the [[Dura-Europos church]] are firmly dated to before 256.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=1992 |title=Early Christian and Jewish Art |encyclopedia=Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism |publisher=Wayne State University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVyzbHAJ_hAC&pg=PA283 |access-date=14 August 2015 |last=Gutmann |first=Joseph |editor-last1=Attridge |editor-first=Harold W. |pages=283–284 |language=en-us |isbn=978-0-8143-2361-8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910060007/https://books.google.com/books?id=jVyzbHAJ_hAC&pg=PA283 |archive-date=10 September 2015 |editor-first2=Gohei |editor-last2=Hata |url-status=live}}</ref> Thereafter, despite the lack of biblical references or historical records, a wide range of depictions of Jesus appeared during the last two millennia, often influenced by cultural settings, political circumstances and theological contexts.{{sfn|Houlden|2006|pp=63–99}}<ref name="Erricker44">{{cite book|title=Teaching Christianity: a world religions approach|first= Clive|last= Erricker|year= 1987 |isbn= 978-0-7188-2634-5 |page= 44 |publisher=James Clarke & Co}}</ref><ref name="Perkinson30" /> As in other [[Early Christian art]], the earliest depictions date to the late 2nd or early 3rd century, and surviving images are found especially in the [[Catacombs of Rome]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The New Westminster Dictionary of Church History|first= Robert |last=Benedetto|year= 2006| isbn= 978-0-664-22416-5 |pages= 51–53 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press}}</ref>

The depiction of Christ in pictorial form was highly [[Aniconism in Christianity|controversial]] in the early Church.<ref name="phschaff">{{cite book | last= Schaff | first= Phillip | title= History of the Christian Church,8 volumes, 3rd edition | publisher= Hendrickson Publishers | location= Massachusetts | date= 1 July 2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NV8sAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA381 | isbn= 978-1-56563-196-0 | access-date= 14 August 2015 | archive-date= 10 September 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910074209/https://books.google.com/books?id=NV8sAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA381 | url-status= live }}</ref>{{efn|Philip Schaff commenting on Irenaeus, wrote, 'This censure of images as a Gnostic peculiarity, and as a heathenish corruption, should be noted'. Footnote 300 on Contr. Her. .I.XXV.6. ANF}}<ref name="Elvira36">[[Synod of Elvira]], 'Pictures are not to be placed in churches, so that they do not become objects of worship and adoration', AD 306, Canon 36.</ref> From the 5th century onward, flat painted [[icon]]s became popular in the Eastern Church.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|loc=Icons}} The [[Byzantine Iconoclasm]] acted as a barrier to developments in the East, but by the 9th century, art was permitted again.{{sfn|Houlden|2006|pp=63–99}} The [[Protestant Reformation]] brought renewed [[aniconism in Christianity|resistance to imagery]], but total prohibition was atypical, and Protestant objections to images have tended to reduce since the 16th century. Although large images are generally avoided, few Protestants now object to book illustrations depicting Jesus.<ref>{{cite book|title=Reformation and the Visual Arts|first= Sergiusz|last= Michalski |year= 1993| isbn= 978-1-134-92102-7 |publisher=Routledge |page= 195}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Payton |first=James R. |title=Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition |publisher=InterVarsity Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8308-2594-3 |pages=178–179 |language=en-us}}</ref> The use of depictions of Jesus is advocated by the leaders of denominations such as [[Anglicans]] and [[Catholics]]<ref name="RWilliams83">{{cite book|title=The Dwelling of the Light: Praying with Icons of Christ |last=Williams|first=Rowan|year= 2003 |isbn= 978-0-8028-2778-4|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing| page= 83}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Karol J.|last=Wojtyła|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/1997/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_29101997_en.html|publisher=Vatican Publishing House|title=General audience 29 October 1997|access-date=20 April 2013|archive-date=3 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303020028/http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/1997/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_29101997_en.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090506_en.html|publisher= Vatican Publishing House|title= General audience 6 May 2009|access-date= 20 April 2013|first= Joseph A.|last= Ratzinger|archive-date= 3 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303064734/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090506_en.html|url-status= live}}</ref> and is a key element of the [[Eastern Orthodox]] tradition.{{sfn|Doninger|1999|p=231}}<ref>{{cite book|title=The Orthodox Christian World|first= Augustine|last= Casiday|year= 2012 |isbn= 978-0-415-45516-9| page= 447 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref>

In Eastern Christian art, the [[Transfiguration of Jesus in Christian art|Transfiguration]] was a major theme, and every Eastern Orthodox monk who had trained in [[icon]] painting had to prove his craft by painting an icon depicting it.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bigham |first=Steven |title=The image of God the Father in Orthodox theology and iconography |publisher=St Vladimir's Seminary Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-879038-15-8 |pages=226–227}}</ref> Icons receive the external marks of veneration, such as kisses and prostration, and they are thought to be powerful channels of divine grace.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|loc=Icons}}

In Western Europe, the [[Renaissance]] brought forth a number of artists who focused on depictions of Jesus; [[Fra Angelico]] and others followed [[Giotto]] in the systematic development of uncluttered images.{{sfn|Houlden|2006|pp=63–99}} Before the Protestant Reformation, the [[crucifix]] was common in Western Christianity. It is a model of the cross with Jesus crucified on it. The crucifix became the central ornament of the altar in the 13th century, a use that has been nearly universal in Roman Catholic churches since then.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005 |loc=Crucifix}}