Paul had Jewish blood. In Acts 22, he also says (while he is speaking before the Sanhedrin) that he is the “son of a Pharisee.” IIRC, only Jews could be Pharisees.
David: Your story about Max made me laugh. Good catch.
I remember seeing a documentary about the ancient wonders of the world . In this documentary it was said the the The statue of Zeus at Olympia ( http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/zeus.html ) had a major influence in how Christ was originally depicted .
I’ll try to hunt down more links when I get a bit of spare time later on .
If you christians were more like your Christ the world would be a better place
-Mahatma Gandhi
Zion said:
What’d he do with it?!
Thanks! I practiced my “hole-punching” skills by heckling him, which later brought me to BBSes and eventually here. Lucky you! 
yojimbo wrote:
Funny, I don’t recall any depicitions of Christ sitting down.
I’m going to hijack here:
Who freakin’ cares, and why?
I would think that to the faithful (I’m not one), his physical appearence would be immaterial.
Peace,
mangeorge
Teach your kids to bungee jump.
One them might have to cross a bridge someday.
I am sorry, I oversimplified. Paul/Saul was of course, Jewish in Faith and blood, but not HEBREW in culture. His native language was greek, and he followed a greek culture ( born in Tarsus, in modern day Turkey, and a roman citizen by birth). He did not look or sound like a Hebrew. In fact, the Elders in the Holy City are surprized when he was able to speak to them in “hebrew” (aramaic)(Acts 22:2).
When Paul “condemned” long hair for men, he was in the middle of a rant aginst sex (he believed it was best to never have sex at all). he was also talking about the rule that Christian MEN must NOT “cover their head” but women MUST. Also, what is “long” hair? Back in those days, shoulder length was about average. also, it is to be noted, Paul never actually saw Jesus.
If Jesus looked like Josephus said, do you really think the Roman soldiers would have had to have Judas point him out? For Gods sake, these guys were running pretty much the known world, and were not known for being that sort of dimbulbs. No, it is clear that Jesus was unremarkable in appearance.
How about the fact that everyone makes a huge fuss over the Shroud of Turin? From what I can tell, it has an imprint of the “picture” Jesus, and not the actual Jesus.
Danielinthewolvesden wrote:
Probably true (though not a certainty). Paul was, however, a contemporary of Jesus, and was adopted as an “Apostle” by the Apostles remaining after the death of Judas. Certainly Paul would have known about the prevailing hairstyles of the day. Furthermore, I can’t believe that Paul would not have heard verbal descriptions of Jesus, even if he had never actually seen Jesus himself. He was a close associate of those who knew Jesus most intimately.
Under those circumstances, I can’t imagine Paul writing a line condemning long hair if Jesus in fact had long hair himself. I don’t believe Jesus had long hair. If he did, I don’t believe the passage in I Corinthians would be there.
I think the hypothesis that early Christian artists patterned Jesus after Zeus may be a pretty good one. Makes sense, if you’re trying to convince polytheists that Jesus was divine, that you would try to make him look like the images of devine beings with which the local populace was familiar.
Spoke: JC and the Apostles were HEBREW Jews, Paul & co, were neo-greek jews. Hebrews wore their hair long, by todays stds. Read NOTTHEMAMA post in “who cares…” I agree, I believe if you read it in context, Paul was ranting above overly long, primped/styled/oiled & perfumed hair, not just plain ol shoulder length hair.
Danielinthewolvesden wrote:
I don’t see the relevance. Paul travelled extensively, not only through the Gentile world, but in Judaea as well. He would have been familiar with all hair styles of the day. He was a contemporary of Jesus, even if he never saw him. He was a close associate of the other apostles, and undoubtedly would have discussed Jesus’s appearance with them (even if he never personally saw Jesus).
I don’t think Paul was raising a fashion issue or just expressing his personal tastes in the letter to the Corinthians. He seemed to be pressing the matter as a theological concern.
I still don’t believe Paul would have written a letter condemning long hair if Jesus had long hair himself, and I do believe Paul would have known whether Jesus had long hair.
Do you have a source for that assertion, or are you speculating?
Of course it’s immaterial! It makes no difference to any of us in our daily lives.
But that’s true of 90% of the topics on SDMB! Should we leave those alone too? Go trade Pez dispensers on eBay instead?
On On