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An artwork that morphs from an image of Jesus to that of Osama bin Laden is causing major upset in Australia.

Queensland artist Priscilla Bracks submitted her controversial print Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross to Australia's prestigious Blake Prize for Religious Art competition, which attracted more than 500 entries this year.

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Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross

This work is concerned with relationships between contemporary popular culture, and the futures we (for better or for worse) create.

It is not intended as a statement but rather as a means to ask questions. In particular, I’m questioning the relationships between media, popular culture, and the development of truth, history and ideology.

When you observe these two people, Osama Bin Ladin and Jesus, their ethics could not be more different. But they were both pursued by two of the world’s most powerful armies – the US and the Roman armies. Jesus is clearly defined by history, but I am interested in how history will treat the image of Osama.

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others

[ 30 August 2007: Message edited by: Sandy47 ]

[ 30 August 2007: Message edited by: Sandy47 ]

[ 30 August 2007: Message edited by: Sandy47 ]

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When you observe these two people, Osama Bin Ladin and Jesus, their ethics could not be more different. But they were both pursued by two of the world’s most powerful armies – the US and the Roman armies. Jesus is clearly defined by history, but I am interested in how history will treat the image of Osama.

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Nonsense. There is nothing in the legend of Jesus relating him being pursued by the Roman Army. The Roman authorities neither considered him a threat nor a revolutionary nor a terrorist of any kind. In point of fact their is no story anywhere that even hints that anyone in Rome knew of his existence. Pontius Pilate, according to the story, had to be threatened and forced to cast judgement. Jesus is not clearly defined by history. He is described with conflicting stories, even in the New Testament. Anyone who looks at Christianity today knows he isn't clearly defined at all and readily morphs into whatever image a Christian sect desires.

[ 30 August 2007: Message edited by: Sandy47 ]

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Originally posted by mimeguy:

Nonsense. There is nothing in the legend of Jesus relating him being pursued by the Roman Army. The Roman authorities neither considered him a threat nor a revolutionary nor a terrorist of any kind. In point of fact their is no story anywhere that even hints that anyone in Rome knew of his existence. Pontius Pilate, according to the story, had to be threatened and forced to cast judgement. Jesus is not clearly defined by history. He is described with conflicting stories, even in the New Testament. Anyone who looks at Christianity today knows he isn't clearly defined at all and readily morphs into whatever image a Christian sect desires.

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Arguably, the Romans would not have crucified Jesus if they hadn't seen him as a political threat. (I think its unlikely that they could have been pressured by their colonial subjects to crucify him.)

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Originally posted by Frustrated Mess:
There is the fact that Jesus would have to have had actually existed for the Romans to have been after him.

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Originally posted by Frustrated Mess:
There is the fact that Jesus would have to have had actually existed for the Romans to have been after him.

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Yes, a fact over looked by millions!

That said, Pilate (a real historical figure) was a bit of a thug, even by the standards of the day. The fact that his procuratorship was in such a gawdawful backwater as Jerusalem (as a Roman citizen would likely have seen it) suggests that Pilate was not the big winner in the patronage sweepstakes.

In all likelihood, Pilate would have quite happily had Jesus executed simply for being a source of instability.

Speaking of caves and Afghanistan: the cave meme is a myth. I learn something new every day!

National Geographic article

[ 31 August 2007: Message edited by: Briguy ]

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With the records kept one would think there would be info found showing that the Romans were after and thought he was a threat, or even that there would be a record of him.

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So, we know that Jesus didn't exist because there is no Roman record of him? Do you think that there is a record of every US rendition victim and prisoner? Is there a reason that you accept Roman written history over Jewish oral history?

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The fact that his procuratorship was in such a gawdawful backwater as Jerusalem (as a Roman citizen would likely have seen it) suggests that Pilate was not the big winner in the patronage sweepstakes.

In all likelihood, Pilate would have quite happily had Jesus executed simply for being a source of instability.

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Do you think that there is a record of every US rendition victim and prisoner?

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I guess the question to ask is did the Romans keep records of executed prisoners? And if they did, why not one on a man known as Jesus of Nazareth?

All the Jesus-haters out there, can't fathom the fact that his attack on the institutions of Rome went a lot further than even the Zealots sought. He wanted the entire order of the world overturned, so that the very basis "power" or "imperium" over others was itself defined as evil, rather than just who holds power. As such, Jesus is perhaps one of the most revolutionary figures in history. You just have to read the Gospels.