Free Republic

What Did Jesus Really Look Like?Imagining Jesus: from left, Jeffrey Hunter in "King of Kings"; Janet McKenzie's recent painting "Jesus of the People"; the face of a first-century Semitic man, rendered by the contemporary artist Donato Giancola. By DAVID GIBSON Whatever arguments there may be about the verisimilitude of Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ," one thing is certain: this Jesus is a Hollywood hunk who probably bears little resemblance to what the Jesus of history looked like. The title role is played by Jim Caviezel, a dark-haired, blue-eyed star whose brooding good looks have been compared to...

Unknotting a tangled tale of towels Scientific tests have established that an icon, revered as an imprint of Christ’s face, is 13th century By Martin Bailey Tests on a painting, called the Mandylion, revered as a miraculous imprinted image of Christ, have revealed it to have been made in the 13th century. There are several early versions of the image, but the one in Genoa is the first to have been subjected to a thorough scientific examination. The results are being presented at an exhibition (until 18 July) in the city’s Museo Diocesano as part of the European Capital of...