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Where does this belief that Men should have short hair come from?
is it the Christian bible, or something else?
I seem to recall seeing some fundamentalist Christian site with which proclaimed "Jesus Had Short Hair".
many corporations still have this rule.
where does this erroneous idea come from?
hello
Beeing a huge apologist of mans with long hair I just hate that concept of all man have to have short hair. But I doubt it has something to do with Crhistiany because I am Christian and, as far as I know, Christ had shoulders lenght hair and almost every man at that time did. And if you look back in history (Im an history adict) you will find that in many cultures and religions, having a really big and storng hair was a sign of virility on a man. In the viking culture for example, a man who didnt had long hair and beard would be looked at and people would be suspicious. The native americans also like to decorate their hair for war, ad the same with the celts who love to show off their long and messy braids, often decorated with natural paints or pieces of fabric braided with the hair.
So, When the society criticises man with long hair, I believe they should look a litle back in time, to civilizations who, from my point of view, were greater than us and achieved more considering the few resources they had. All those man had long hair and that didnt influenced what they were capable of.
take care
Longhair has had its peaks and valley as far as beibg in fashion. I would suggest but this isn't scientific that the 20th century and its two big wars and the military mindset had something to do with it. As well as the huge upsurge in consumerism as the result of cheap mass produced stuff namely the disposable razor among others, it's now cheap to be clean cut.
As for the Bible well I have great repect for Christianity as I do all religions but I have a saying "Man has created God in his own image" It's those who interpret that I have issues with. This also may explain the website who said Jesus had short hair.
It wasn't until the Hippie counterculture of the late 60's that this began to change. I just watched an interesting Documentary "Hippies" on the history channel concerning this change which is still being felt. Society evolves has done for millenia and is still evolvong so who knows where we'll be down the road. Hopefully more longhairs and more acceptance.
Kevin
Most people blame the Romans. They had a militaristic soceity and were the first to enforce short hair in the military. There is a bible verse saying men should have short hair, but it was written by St. Paul, who was ... wait for it...a Roman!
elektros, You are correct sir. One short verse written by a roman! An interpretation, not the word of God!
peace, jonalbear
Excellent query to posit, Chris. Tristan, oh Tristan, where ARE you? Yup, as stated in an earlier observation by someone else, the more militaristic a society becomes (oh, hello Greeks and Romans, hello!), the shorter them hairstyles go. Ugh. ALSO, slave-based economies, worker-drones, merchants-vendors, specialists-technicians; in short (no pun intended), nothing has changed in over six-thousand-traceable years of Western civilization, has it?
Please note, though. The ancient Druids might (k)not have had the long tresses that steroetypical renditions of the wizard Merlin depict him with, but, their men definitely grew beards.
Yours in historical research,
Quenyan (:-)}
Actually, in both red figure and black figure Greek pottery, there are a good many depictions of Greek guys with long hair as shown above. The only prohibition against hair I've ever run across with the Greeks was when Alexander the Great prohibited beards on his soldiers so that the enemies couldn't grab hold of them.
The Romans are traditionally depicted with short, closely-cropped hair, but evidence in print and other sources suggest that some of those men had longer hair too. There are several words in Latin concerning hair. "Caesaries" means "long flowing hair," and "capillatus" means "long-haired." "Capillatus" is the masculine ending; it's a 1-2 declension adjective, so can be either masculine, feminine, or neuter.
I have also run across passages that I can locate specifically if you wish. My favorite is from Juvenal's satire who when writing about a dinner party mentions that the "the host was served a bottle of Falernian [wine] bottled back in the days when the consuls wore their hair long," while he was served some wine so bad that fresh-clipped lamb's wool from Apulia wouldn't soak up. Later as well, in the 300's and 400's, the Romans imitated "Barbarian" styles which often meant long hair bleached or colored blond and red colors.
Yes, Bragi, many a Greek (such as the e.g. you posted with the tunic-wearing, helmeted, long-coiffed soldier wielding sword and Pegasus-emblazoned shield about to vanquish his semi-reclining PANTS-WEARING and Phrygian-capped foe . . . a Persian per chance?) indeed did cultivate their tresses, and, by the time of the Hellenes, most men WERE, in fact, longhaired. Their cultural aesthetic being positively androgynous (hello, Otaku!), as witness many of their statues.
What I had elucidated was, simply, the more a nation-state's economy relies on a striated caste society (slaves/servants at the bottom of the pyramid, rulers/god-kings at the zenith), one finds shorter coiffed styles ON the underprivileged, but longer, more beautiously configured hairstyles on those in positions of power and prestige.
You know, you know, that whole closer-to-divinity syndrome! But, I'm sure you can cite other cultures in other countries from other eras that will contradict that observation, too.
Thank you for posting, Bragi!
Quenyan (+;-)}
something regarding
"PROPER HAIR LENGTHS AND STYLES IN GOD’S CHURCH"
The linked site seems to base it's evidence on words written and twisted centuries ago by people to suit their own needs, and assumes that because short hair was worn in the past it should be the way to go now.
I bet the people who put up that site are scared to leave up the toilet seat and wear underpants when they shower because it would offend god if they saw their own genitals.
Sorry bit drunk...
MattT
Hi Chris,
1 Corinthians 11:14 says, "14 Does not nature itself teach YOU that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him; 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her?"
It was that busy body Apostle Paul who is supposed to have written this "counsel" to the Christians. Of course, what constitutes "long hair" can vary quite a bit depending on the culture. Basically, it means hair longer than what everyone else considers "normal". Anyone going for terminal length will definitely go past that point.
anotherDavid (no longer a funnymentalist)
Probably the same people who say girls like pink, boys like blue, red cars go faster and other things like that.
I think that passage is Paul talking to some people and I do not think it was meant as a commandment, since paul is only a servant of God and has no authority to command anyone to do anything. I suspect he is probably talking to that particular culture and I dont want to go into it because it means a lot of research. From my understanding of the Biblical culture, in ancient times there was a group called the "Nazerite" which Samson is a part of. Basically they make a covenant or a vow of some kind with God, and they are to shave their head at the beginning of the covenant, and they are not to cut their hair at all during the covenant until it is fulfilled, after which they cut their hair to show they are done with it. According to Leviticus, it is against the law for a person to cut the hair at the side of the head, that means crew cuts are NOT biblical, assuming those bible thumpers uses the Old Testament on you. By the way Samson had long hair, he was required to because it was a sign of the covenant, and cutting his hair breaks them. God takes covenants very seriously. I don't know if Jesus really had long hair but most depictions I have seen shows him with shoulder length or longer hair, maybe it had to do with medieval culture or something, but it shouldn't matter anyways because God doesn't care what you look like, he loves you the same anyways.
I think those "christians" who uses the bible to cut people down are actually working for Satan, because Satan knows the Bible as well and he uses it to tempt Jesus. Remember that the bible says there are always wolves in sheep's clothings and they do nothing but kill and destroy. Their actions and reactions to those who doesn't follow their interpretation of the scripture shows that they are not of the holy spirit, but of the flesh.
Chris ...
Hello... First thing people have to be able to admit is this..(including myself of course). It is completely possible to make the Bible say whatever you want it to say. Therefore; if you take the passage about long hair on a man being a shame unto him to apply to all Christians everywhere throughout time and history; it makes no sense theologically. The passage was intended to target men who were attempting to look like prostitues which obviously gives a very bad "Christian" image. Thus Paul writes this text.
In any case; as far as Christianity goes; and as far as long hair is concerned; the article posted below about the church and men having long hair seems to fit the above description. Basically, some facts dispersed with some things that certain organizations want to control ..... Which goes back historically to the Roman Catholic Church. (please .. no offense to any Catholics..) Again.. as these guys on mlhh already know... I really have a hard time accepting organized religion... They tend to focus way too much on the things that are very irrelevant when taken into eternities perspective... Their motto seems to be; "Lets focus on the stupid things so we can make jackasses of ourselves for the world to see." It really makes a bad name for "true" Christians.
Sorry this ended up being so long ... I tend to start rambling..
Be Blessed.. (with long hair and not tied down to legalism) :)
Tristan