A 1.5-2 hour long presentation/exercise on the visual representations of Jesus around the world, particularly focusing on portrayals that use indigenous symbols and images to “translate” Jesus into their own cultural context. What can we learn from the portrayal of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as an immigrant family in contemporary clothes, looking Mexican, standing in the streets at night knocking on the door of a shelter? What can we learn from a picture where a black, regal Jesus invites the poor to dine with him in a rural African village? We will consider new ways of understanding the gospel and how it speaks to varied cultures and classes of people, and then we will try to draw a Jesus in our own contemporary setting, to take a closer look at how we see him today.
ReNew York is a ministry that follows God to love artists and create transcendent work in community. We strive to bring healthy spirituality to those who create culture in this world, to honor people who were made in the image of their Creator, and to cultivate the earth in this modern context.