A Short History of the Bearded Christ
A Short History of the Bearded Christ Images of Christ and other Gods sold on Bazar street side in India. Courtesy: Alamy If you walk into any bustling market today—whether it’s Police Bazar in Shillong, a street vendor in Dimapur, or a busy intersection in Kathmandu—chances are that you will see a familiar face. He’s looking out from a glossy poster, maybe framed in cheap plastic, right next to other gods of different denominations. He has long, flowing hair, a neat beard, and a gentle, authoritative gaze. It’s Jesus the Christ. And we all instantly recognize him. But here’s the thing: for the first few hundred years of Christianity, no one had any idea what Jesus looked like. In fact, if you showed that poster to a first-century Christian, they wouldn’t recognize him at all. The face we know today didn't fall from the sky; it was built, piece by piece, across empires, centuries, and surprisingly, across completely different religions. Welcome to the story of how the divin...