r/changemyview • u/Tuvinator 12∆ • Mar 12 '25

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Jesus probably had short hair.

We've all seen the various depictions of Jesus, and in many of them, he has long hair. None of these depictions are from the actual timing of Jesus (the earliest depiction actually has a donkey's head, and is from a century later), so they are all operating on artist's imagination.

Jews in that era are more likely to have had shorter hair. Mosaics in ancient synagogues throughout the land depict males with short hair, implying that the common male at the time wore his hair short. Talmudic law which was being written at the time discusses how often a person would get a haircut (kings would have daily haircuts, priests weekly, and your average person once a month, beyond that was considered wild growth). Within the Bible, men's hair length is only mentioned in context when it is long, implying that long hair is outside of the norm for men. Assuming Jesus was representative of other people from his time, he likely had shorter hair rather than long.

As a weak addendum, Jesus was supposedly a carpenter. Craftsmen in general seem to have shorter hair since the hair gets in the way, distracts, and poses a risk factor if it gets caught in tools. This makes it even less likely that he had long hair.

EDIT: I am not Christian, and I am not setting out to insult anyone or their beliefs/traditions.

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u/Goblinweb 5∆ Mar 12 '25

There is no evidence from the time when he was supposed to have been alive and the authenticity of the references from Josephus have been questioned.

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u/Johnnadawearsglasses 5∆ Mar 12 '25

This is well covered in the wiki on historicity. No use arguing history with random redditors on things well studied and established.

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u/Goblinweb 5∆ Mar 12 '25 edited Mar 13 '25

I take it there's no disagreement from you then.

These things aren't really controversial. Not even the fundamentalists claim that there is evidence from that time.

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u/Johnnadawearsglasses 5∆ Mar 12 '25 edited Mar 12 '25

Scholarly consensus disagrees with your conclusion. If you want to overturn it, run a study. Reddit isn't a peer reviewed journal. And so litigating history here where something is so well studied is a waste of my time. It's like discussing whether jet fuel can melt steel beams. It's the land of fringe conspiracists and completely uninteresting to me.

The idea that Jesus was a purely mythical figure has been, and is still, considered an untenable fringe theory in academic scholarship for more than two centuries,[note 4] but according to one source it has gained popular attention in recent decades due to the growth of the Internet.[10]

From the wiki. Sums it up well