A black Jesus? This is what he would look like

Take a moment and picture the Bible characters you’ve heard about over the years. Think about Jesus Christ, John the Baptist and even Esther. What race are they?

From paintings to movies, the Bible has inspired many works of art through history. Despite the fact that many of the stories are about people of Semitic and African origin, characters are more often than not depicted as Caucasians.

An American photographer, James C. Lewis, is trying to change that with a photography project dubbed Icons of the Bible.

“The whitewashing of the Bible has always bothered me. However, I’m happy to now have the opportunity to give a different point of view. I think it is very important to see one’s self in the Scripture so that it may become real in their eyes,” Lewis said during the exhibition of his series.

To execute the project, he got over 70 models from Asian, Native American, Hispanic, African, Middle Eastern, Black American and West Indian origins.

Though the Atlanta based photographer did not stick to the historical context, his images have been met with positive critical acclaim.

What do you think about the images below?