Beard: Encyclopedia II - Beard - Beards in Religion

Beard - Beards in Religion

Beards also play an important role in some religions.

The Jews thought it ignominious to lose their beards (Bible: 2 Samuels ch. 10, verse 4).Leviticus 19:27 states that "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." Talmudic rabbis understood this to mean only that one should not shave their beard with a razor with a single blade. Because scissors have two blades, rabbinic law permits their use to trim the beard. For this reason, many Jews also use electric razors, which may have two or more blades. Despite this apparent leniency, Torah Law also prohibits cutting the beard close to the skin with a scissor, only that if someone shaves with a scissor he is exempt from punishment (Rambam's Mishne Torah, Laws of Idolatry, 12:8). The minimum length of the beard is devired from Laws of Nazirites, where it states that "ke'en ta'ar" is as long as one can fold the hairs from tip to root. Other later codifiers disagree with Maimonides on this matter; however, the lenient view that scissors down to the bare skin are permitted has no basis in any of the Tannaitic and Amoraitic writings.

Judaism's traditions have influenced other Abrahamic religions. In Eastern Christianity, beards are often worn by members of the priesthood, and at times have been required for all believers - see Old Believers. Amish and Hutterite men shave until they are married, then grow a beard and are never thereafter without one, although it is a particular form of a beard (see Visual markers of marital status). Many devout Muslims also grow their facial hair, in emulation of the Prophet Muhammad.

In Greek mythology and art Zeus and Poseidon are always portrayed with beards, but Apollo never is. A bearded Hermes was replaced with the more familiar beardless youth in the 5th century. Sikhs do not remove a single hair from their body.

Very long full white beards have now been ubiquitously associated with wizards. Such wizard examples as Merlin of the famous King Arthur tale, and Gandalf of the famed Lord of the Rings paved the stereotype of the old wizard with the long white beard.

Beard - Early Christian attitudes

• St Clement of Alexandria
  • "The hair of the chin showed him to be a man." St Clement of Alexandria (c.195, E), 2.271

• • "How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself and shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, and to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, and smooth them!…For God wished women to be smooth and to rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, and endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest--a sign of strength and rule." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.275

• • “This, then, is the mark of the man, the beard. By this, he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of the superior nature….It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness.” St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.276

• • "It is not lawful to pluck out the beard, man’s natural and noble adornment." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.277

• St Cyprian
  • "In their manners, there was no discipline. In men, their beards were defaced." St Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.438

• • "The beard must not be plucked. 'You will not deface the figure of your beard'." [Lev 19:32] St. Cyprian, 5.553

• Lactantius
  • "The nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to distinguish the sex, or to contribute to the beauty of manliness and strength." Lactantius (c. 304-314, W), 7.288

• Apostolic Constitutions
  • "Men may not destroy the hair of their beards and unnaturally change the form of a man. For the Law says, “You will not deface your beards.” For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men." Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c.390, E) 7.392. (1)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Beards in Religion", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki