wfn.org | Odyssey TV special will examine 'Picture Perfect Jesus?'

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Sept. 21, 2000   News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.   10-21-71B{421}

By Nancye M. Willis*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- A new hourlong TV documentary set to air on the
Odyssey Network explores Warner Sallman's 1940 painting "Head of Christ,"
once almost universally accepted as an image of Jesus.

Produced by United Methodist Communications (UMCom), "Picture Perfect
Jesus?" will air at 11 p.m. Nov. 18, repeated at 2 p.m. Nov. 19, 10 a.m.
Nov. 24, and 2 a.m. Nov. 25 (all times Eastern). In the special, UMCom
producer Lyle Jackson follows the history, pro and con, of one of the
best-known portraits of the 20th century.   

"This peaceful portrait may owe its phenomenal popularity to war," says
actor Hal Holbrook, who narrates the special. Distributed during World War
II in wallet size by the Salvation Army and YMCA to millions of U.S.
military men and women, the portrait of Jesus Christ became a marketing
miracle, appearing on clocks and calendars, funeral-home fans and Sunday
school literature. 

Art critic Robert Hughes of Time magazine has called Sallman's works
"roadside, redneck devotional art," but the image of "Head of Christ" is,
for many U.S. citizens, deeply rooted in memories of their youth, having
appeared on countless denominational publications and in numerous
church-school classrooms. And, although millions recognize in the picture a
personal Savior, others find it historically flawed -- perhaps offensive.  

Some criticize it as portraying a "non-Jewish Jesus," with blue eyes and
Anglo features; various ethnic groups complain that it does not represent
them fairly. Representative of this viewpoint is a recent contest sponsored
by National Catholic Reporter, resulting in "Jesus of the People," a
dark-featured figure modeled on a woman.

"Picture Perfect Jesus?" attempts to trace this changing view of the
physical Jesus, using historical and contemporary footage, interviews with
enthusiasts and detractors, and "person-on-the-street" vignettes.

Art historian David Morgan of Valparaiso (Ind.) University points out that
the image filled a requirement for a generic Jesus that could be embraced by
many.

The Rev. Tony Campolo, evangelist, author and presidential adviser, adds:
"If this image is used as an icon for people to worship, then the picture
has gotten in the way of Christ himself; if this picture evokes grace, then
I cheer it on."

Retired Salvation Army Maj. Morris Richardson, who has mailed out nearly 5
million of the pocket-sized versions, lays the phenomenal popularity of the
portrait to divine providence: "God just put his stamp of approval on it."

Not necessarily, says Archbishop George Stallings Jr., a former Roman
Catholic priest. Stallings left the Catholic church, charging it with racism
and failure to needs of its black members, of which he was one. "White
Christ/black church: It just didn't work," says Stallings, founder of Imani
Temple in Washington, D.C., where a predominantly black congregation
gathers. As part of an effort "to expunge from our psyches this notion of
Jesus as presented by Sallman and embrace our own," Stallings commissioned
artist Akili Ron Anderson to create a portrait of a black Christ.

And former Methodist minister Barry Moser, now an artist who has created a
series of 232 wood-engraving etchings to illustrate a limited-edition Bible,
notes that Sallman had "no sense of the dramatic. ... If the life of Christ
is nothing (else), it's dramatic." 

In the face of conflicting opinion, producer Jackson places a framed copy of
the image on the street to gauge the opinions of passers-by:  "Is this the
Jesus I know?" one man asks.  "No, this is a picture - an image - of the
Jesus I know," he concludes.

Odyssey, owned by Hallmark Entertainment, the Jim Henson Co., Liberty Media
Corp. and subsidiaries of the National Interfaith Cable Coalition (NICC),
reaches almost 30 million households in nearly 1,500 cable systems
nationwide. NICC is a consortium of nearly 70 Jewish and Christian faith
groups, including the United Methodist Church.  

# # #
 
*Willis is a writer and designer in United Methodist Communications' Public
Media Division. 

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United Methodist News Service
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