{"id":26466,"date":"2014-10-06T14:41:46","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T18:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=26466"},"modified":"2014-10-06T14:41:46","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T18:41:46","slug":"resurrecting-the-middle-eastern-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/10\/resurrecting-the-middle-eastern-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Resurrecting the Middle-Eastern Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

David Henson has blogged<\/a> about the casting of Lebanese actor Haaz Sleiman in the role of Jesus in the upcoming miniseries \u201cKilling Jesus.\u201d He writes:<\/p>\n

Killing Jesus<\/em>\u00a0might have just killed White Jesus.<\/p>\n

National Geographic Channel\u2019s new miniseries,\u00a0Killing Jesus,\u00a0<\/em>has done what virtually no other mainstream Jesus film or television series has done.<\/p>\n

\"HaazThey cast a Middle Eastern man to portray a Middle Eastern man.<\/p>\n

Shocking, I know.<\/p>\n

The four-part miniseries, set to air in 2015, announced today that Lebanon-born actor Haaz Sleiman (The Visitor<\/em>) will portray the title character Jesus.<\/p>\n

Now for virtually any other subject, this wouldn\u2019t be surprising or even worth mentioning.<\/p>\n

I mean, if you were filming a Martin Luther King, Jr., miniseries, you wouldn\u2019t cast Jim Caviezel or Diogo Morgado in the lead role. It\u2019d be ridiculous and racist and insulting.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d be laughed right off the screen.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to Jesus of Nazareth?<\/p>\n

Jesus of Palestine?<\/p>\n

Jesus of the Middle East?<\/p>\n

Apparently, only white Europeans can play the savior of the world.<\/p>\n

Until now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more in his blog post<\/a>. I love his comparison to the casting of Jim Caviezel to play Martin Luther King Jr., and I am embarrassed that\u00a0it never occurred to me to think in those terms before.<\/p>\n

As it happens, this news came to me the day after I saw this meme image on Facebook:<\/p>\n

\"Jesus<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Henson has blogged about the casting of Lebanese actor Haaz Sleiman in the role of Jesus in the upcoming miniseries \u201cKilling Jesus.\u201d He writes: Killing Jesus\u00a0might have just killed White Jesus. National Geographic Channel\u2019s new miniseries,\u00a0Killing Jesus,\u00a0has done what virtually no other mainstream Jesus film or television series has done. They cast a Middle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":26467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[347,4304,5677,6199,6429,7921,9886],"class_list":["post-26466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-jesus","tag-actor","tag-haaz-sleiman","tag-jesus","tag-killing-jesus","tag-lebanese","tag-national-geographic","tag-race"],"yoast_head":"\nResurrecting the Middle-Eastern Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"David Henson has blogged about the casting of Lebanese actor Haaz Sleiman in the role of Jesus in the upcoming miniseries "Killing Jesus." 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