God Loves A Beard
20 Responses to God Loves A Beard
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Mr. Patrick says:
We need to bring back the beard tax.
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ms mm says:
They forgot to include beards of the Metropolitan Church.
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It’s amazing how a full, long beard changes the image of a man. The power of the visual.
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I really want to make a comment here about women who are married to gay men, but I can’t think of a clever way to do it that isn’t mean.
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Hector_St_Clare says:
Charles Williams suggests in his novel “War in Heaven” that the reason Western priests traditionally are clean-shaven, is to emphasize their sexless, celibate nature, and also to suggests that they’re relatively ‘feminine’ with respect to God, the eternal masculine.
Of course, he puts that observation into the mouth of one of his villains, in this case a devil-worshipping anthropologist, so it may not actually express Williams’ own opinion.
The priest that I confess to has a full beard, bald head, etc. (I think he has a bit of Orthodox envy- he loves wearing a biretta in winter). I’m not a big fan of beards on men in general, but I think in his case it adds to his sense of fatherly authority, kind of like the ‘Angry Whiskers’ guy. And yes, he does love the King James Bible.
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Fred Garvin says:
Lots of “I’m not into the whole corporate thing” theologians and pastors and seminary professors who think that wearing a beard is an “outward and visible sign” that they don’t have to wear a tie to work and can thus be “prophetic” and “on the margins”.
The only things they’re on the margins of is their churches’ survival and relevance.
Bunch of posers. -
Jason Gagnon says:
It is a Hasidic tradition that a man’s beard grows from his brain. I remind my wife of that each spring as she pushes me to remove my winter beard. She retorts that we’re Orthodox Christians, not Orthodox Jews, and the thing has to come off.
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EngineerScotty says:
I’ve found it interesting that many (fundamentalist) religions have hang-ups over facial hair in men–either mandating (or at least encouraging) full beardage, or in rejecting facial hair altogether. (The LDS church is an example of the latter–beards are verboten at BYU; despite the hirstuteness of Brigham Young himself–not to mention most depictions of Christ–the current policy appears to be a reaction to the prevalence of beards in American counterculture).
So obviously, a few things are missing:
* The Melchizedek priest. Clean-shaven, without so much as a hint of stubble or whiskers.
* The Ned Flanders. No beard, but a mustache that looks like a banana slug is coming out of your nose.
* The Obi-Wan Kenobi. A neatly-manicured beard, that makes you look like a respectable banker. The Force, of course, has quite a few religious aspects, so this qualifies.
* The Master Po. Looks like a noodle draped over (and hanging from) one’s upper lip, which is how the eponymous Po the Panda mocked it in Kung Fu Panda. See prior entry for relevance of this to theology.
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I really want to make a comment here about women who are married to gay men, but I can’t think of a clever way to do it that isn’t mean.
But Marcus Bachmann doesn’t have a beard…
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Declan Kennedy says:
Lovely article. I can remember meeting Italian Capuchins who had beards coming down to their waists. They were inspiring men. Says he, with a beard that has never been longer than a centimetre (half an inch to the Yanks) in forty years.
Metropolitan Anthony also had a great beard and was an inspiring speaker.
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MH - Secular Misanthropist says:
I always heard the facial hair dividing line was World War I. You needed to be clean shaven look to wear a gas mask and the practice caught on. This was of course aided by the new media of radio, advertising, and the commercial interests of razor companies.
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Lori A says:
I saw the Guru Goatee and immediately thought “Rick Warren”.
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And the ludicrous porkpie hat, beloved of “Emergent” church planters.
The more they try to be “edgy” and “out there” the more they look conformist and about as unpredictable as a rusty metronome. -
Don’t the Taliban enforce that all men must grow beards? These guys pictures here must all be in cahoots.
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Islam does generally encourage wearing beards, on the grounds that Muhammad had one.
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DM10003 says:
“She retorts that we’re Orthodox Christians, not Orthodox Jews, and the thing has to come off.”
Would women ever allow a man to make such demands to change her appearance?
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What strikes me most about this graphic is the equation of ecclesiastical authority with masculinity. Would there be a companion “Hair-Do’s of Ministry” in the offing? I doubt it.
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Scott says:
Cynthia – This graphic is mostly of hair-don’ts, so hair-dos can’t be far behind!
Why do I wish I had a little magnetic pencil in my hand instead of a razor?