Daniel Becerra, Jennifer Champoux, Mark D. Ellison, and Matthew J. Grey. Picturing Christ: Understanding Depictions of Jesus in History and Art. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2026. 160 pp. Hardcover: $23.99. ISBN: 978-1-63993-509-3.

Reviewed by Chad L. Nielsen

In the visual culture of modern Christianity, few images exert as profound an influence on the devotional imagination as the portrait of Jesus Christ. How believers visualize the Savior can subtly influence their theology, their scriptural hermeneutics, and their interpersonal relationships. Yet the artistic traditions that dominate chapel foyers and home walls are often assumed to be static or historically transparent. In Picturing Christ: Understanding Depictions of Jesus in History and Art, a collaborative team comprising three ancient scripture professors (Daniel Becerra, Mark D. Ellison, and Matthew J. Grey) and an art historian (Jennifer Champoux) provides a landmark volume that bridges the gap between rigorous academic scholarship and accessible public discipleship. Beautifully produced and overflowing with color reproductions (though still at an affordable price), the book offers a gentle yet uncompromising re-examination of how the Savior has been depicted across two millennia.

Grounding the Historical Jesus

The volume opens with a firm historical foundation in Chapter 1, authored by Matthew J. Grey, which tackles the question of what the mortal Jesus of Nazareth likely looked and dressed like. Drawing on first-century Galilean archaeology, ancient Near Eastern textile remains, and Judean material culture, Grey dispels centuries of idealized artistic conventions. He reconstructs the physical realities of a first-century Jewish peasant: the short, unkempt hair typical of Galilean men, the simple wool or linen tunics, the natural-dyed mantles, and the utilitarian leather sandals. By stripping away the Eurocentric, long-haired, serene aesthetic of later Western art, Grey grounds the New Testament narrative in a tangible, historical landscape, demonstrating that what Jesus wore and how He appeared reflected His voluntary subjection to the modest material conditions of His time and place.

In Chapter 2, Mark D. Ellison expands the lens to examine how broader Christian communities portrayed Christ over time. Tracing artistic evolution from early Roman catacomb frescoes—where Christ appears as a youthful Good Shepherd or a philosopher-teacher—through Byzantine mosaics, medieval crucifixes, and Renaissance masterpieces, Ellison demonstrates that every era paints Jesus in its own cultural image. Depictions of the Savior have never been culturally neutral; they reflect the shifting theological anxieties, political contexts, and aesthetic values of the communities that produced them in an effort to portray what Jesus the Christ means to them rather than what he actually looked like.

The Latter-day Saint Visual Tradition

Jennifer Champoux turns the focus inward in Chapter 3, providing an illuminating historical survey of Latter-day Saint artistic depictions of Jesus. Champoux details how, for much of the twentieth century, the institutional Church and its members relied almost exclusively on nineteenth-century European or mid-century Protestant illustrators—most notably Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann, and Harry Anderson. While these works served a vital role in establishing a recognizable, reverent visual brand during the Church’s era of global correlation and assimilation into mainstream American society, they also entrenched a specific, Northern European aesthetic as the tacit “standard” for divine depiction.

Champoux highlights how this historical reliance on non-LDS, Western European imagery gradually gave way to a more diverse Latter-day Saint artistic movement, while also candidly addressing the institutional and cultural conservatism that occasionally resisted visual innovation.

Diversity, Race, and the Theology of Representation

The volume’s final chapter, authored by Daniel Becerra, shifts from historical exposition to ideological and theological reflection, addressing some of the most sensitive conversations surrounding sacred art. Becerra directly confronts the issue of race and the psychological impact of exclusive Eurocentric portrayals. When a single ethnic presentation of Christ is elevated as universal, it can inadvertently marginalize non-White believers, subtly signaling who belongs at the center of the kingdom and who resides on its periphery.

To resolve this tension, Becerra articulates a compelling case for embracing a two-fold, diverse slate of Christological art, including both historically informed images that honor the actual incarnation of Jehovah as a Galilean Jew and ahistorical / inculturated images that portray Jesus through diverse global cultures and ethnic features (citing contemporary artists such as Rose Datoc Dall, Esther Hi’ilani Candari, Sopheap Nhem, and Michelle Franzoni Thorley).

Becerra argues that far from being heretical or misleading, inculturated depictions honor the universal scope of the Atonement. Just as European Christians have traditionally depicted Christ with European features to understand His proximity to their lives, global Latter-day Saints in Africa, Asia, Polynesia, and Latin America have a theological right to see their own humanity reflected in the Savior. Expanding the Church’s visual vocabulary opens new avenues for revelatory connection, empathy, and personal discipleship.

Conclusion

Picturing Christ is an essential, beautifully executed achievement. By translating high-level art historical and archaeological research into clear, accessible prose, Becerra, Champoux, Ellison, and Grey have created a work that is both academically impeccable and devotionally enriching. It does not shy away from difficult conversations about race and cultural conditioning, but approaches them with charity, pastoral sensitivity, and intellectual integrity. For any Latter-day Saint seeking to deepen their engagement with the New Testament and broaden their spiritual vision of the Savior, this volume is highly recommended.

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For info on more books being published in 2026, see Mormon Studies Books in 2026.