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The Whiteness of Jesus, The Dead Sea Scrolls Go Digital, and More
February 03, 2017
How depictions of a fair-skinned Jesus linked whiteness with godliness, and the Dead Sea Scrolls as you've never seen them before.
Warner Sallman 1941
Jesus, Whiteness and Power February 03, 2017
Most Americans imagine Jesus as a pale-skinned man with delicate features and long, flowing hair. That image, which many people have come to think of as a timeless classic, was actually painted in 1941 by Warner Sallman. Edward Blum explains how this and other depictions of a white Jesus have linked whiteness with godliness – and complicated race relations for generations of Americans. Originally aired in 2013.

Edward Blum, co-author with Paul Harvey of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America
dead sea scrolls
A Very Modern Home for Some Very Old Manuscripts February 03, 2017
The legend goes something like this: in 1946, a Bedouin boy went searching for a lost goat and stumbled into a cave, where he found ancient, tattered pieces of parchment. It turns out they were part of a treasure trove of manuscripts containing the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish documents, all penned some 2000 years ago.

For the last several decades, the Dead Sea Scrolls have lived very sheltered lives, but now anyone with an Internet connection can view them in stunning, hi-resolution detail. Originally aired in 2013.

Risa Levitt Kohn, professor at San Diego State University
Jodi Magness, professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


Check out the Dead Sea Scrolls online for yourself! Zoom in close enough to see the texture of the parchment or even the brush strokes of a single letter.