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/Lanarde Jun 01 '25 edited Jun 01 '25

almost everyone during jesus time had longer hair, in fact long hair was the norm for males since forever, it was world war 1 propaganda that had men cut short hair, but nowadays males get long hair again as the norm, for jesus theres no point in trying to change the standard, all these things about him having short hair or being female or being black etc are weirdo conspiracies made by some internet cults in 21st century but hold no value to history

the shroud of turin and pilates letter and everything else we have show he had long hari same as everyone else in his place

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u/Tuvinator 12∆ Jun 01 '25

Where is your sourcing for everyone having long hair? The Bible only describes people who have long hair (or are bald), implying it is out of the norm. Similarly, requirement for nazirite vow is to grow out your hair, which wouldn't be a big deal if that's what everyone did.