The Revs Talk Religious Iconography, Antisemitism, And White Jesus

Warner Sallman, J. Manning Potts — Rev. Dr. J. Manning Potts of Nashville, Tenn., left, presents the 1957 Upper Room Award for World Christianity Fellowship to artist Warner Sallman of Chicago, Ill., at a dinner meeting of church and government officials, Oct. 3, 1957, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Aidan Connelly is a production assistant on Boston Public Radio. A graduate of Emerson College with a B.A in journalism, his work has appeared on WBUR, KCRW, and The Marketplace Morning Report.

June 29, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

On Monday, Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett Price returned to Boston Public Radio, where the two reignited the decades-old discussion around how Christians ought to depict their lord and savior.

The conversation came in response to President Trump’s claim that Black Lives Matter protesters are seeking to topple statues of white Christ. That assertion is, for the most part, untrue. Activist Sean King, controversial even within the Black Lives Matter movement, is the only major figure advocating for the destruction of white Jesus statues.

“We dehistoricalize Jesus,” Monroe said. “And what I mean by this is that we Christianize him, and [don’t recognize] that he was a Jew… when he was living during a Roman occupation time that crucified him.”

But she also noted that depictions of Jesus aren’t always meant to be historically accurate.

"We’re still looking for the historical Jesus,” she said. "I think that in people making images, making Jesus in their own image — I’m okay with that. The reason why I’m okay with that is because Jesus, symbolically, symbolizes the oppressed, the damned, the disposed and disrespected."

Price agreed with Monroe's sentiment, saying "I’m not sure it’s about making Jesus look like what he actually looked like, because none of us were there — and if we were, then we’d have a whole other issue to deal with. I think it’s really about making sure we don’t Jim and Jane Crow Jesus."

Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist and the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Price is professor of worship, church & culture and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by WGBH.

Aidan Connelly is a production assistant on Boston Public Radio. A graduate of Emerson College with a B.A in journalism, his work has appeared on WBUR, KCRW, and The Marketplace Morning Report.