How tall was Jesus Christ? Who was the tallest desiple?

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Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 10 Aug 2002 09:56 PDT

How authoritative of a source do you require? Certainly there is
nothing in the New Testament that indicates their heights.

Hello teddybear-ga, 
 
After further research, I have not found better information than I
posted in my original comment. And, as you can see by other comments
below that there is no defintive answer to your question, just the
best extrapolations from others that have searched for this answer.

Consequently, I will let my original comment stand as the answer and I
have reposted the data below:

**************************************************************************


Here is my research:
 
This is one of those questions that may not have an answer. Even
experts disagree about the height of Jesus and to a certain extent,
one must have faith in their expert to ascertain an answer they are
comfortable with.
 
http://christianity.about.com/library/weekly/aa052598.htm quotes that
"...the New Testament contains no physical description of Jesus...".
This is echoed on many other websites.
 
That being said, I have found the following conflicting information
using both "christ +height" and "jesus christ" +height search
strategies.
 
At http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcqu.htm : 
 
"We do not know whether he was tall or short. The image on the Shroud
of Turin (believed by many to be the burial shroud of Jesus) is of a
man variously estimated to be 5' 11½" to 6' 2" tall. Jews who lived in
the 1st century CE were much shorter than this. Writer William Harwood
comments: "According to a medieval writer, [the Jewish historian]
Josephus described Jesus as an old-looking man, balding, stooped, with
joined eyebrows and approximately 135 cm (4ft 6 in.) tall." 2 This is
based on the standard 46 cm. long regular cubit -- an ancient unit of
distance. Using the 53 cm. special cubit, Jesus' height would have
been about 156 cm (5ft 1in.). Harwood also makes the point that if
Jesus were really 6 feet high, his height would have been so
remarkable that he would certainly have been described as a very tall
person by the writers of the Christian Scriptures."
 
and http://www.originalsource.com/pages/shroud.html claims: 
 
OF ALL RELIGIOUS RELICS, the reputed burial cloth of Christ, the
Shroud of Turin, is without a doubt one of the most mystifying objects
in existence. Sepia-yellow in color, the imprint of a man’s body is
seen on this 8 ft. linen cloth.  The body was that of an adult male,
nude, with beard, mustache, and long hair falling to the shoulders. 
Height is estimated at between 5 ft. 9 in. to 5 ft. 11 in., weight at
165-180 lb., age at 30 to 45 years.
 
 
For a humourous take on the question,  see
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_034a.html,where Cecil believes
he was a tall man.
 
http://www.pixelworks.com.ph/shroud/_disc1/00000016.htm has determined
that Jesus was 5' 10", though I did not find their research work
justifying their estimate.
 
The bible makes several references to Jesus being a tall man, however,
as you can see, estimates of his height vary greatly.
 
I could little reference to the height of the disciples.
http://www.lufkin.org/pages/actscommentary/14.htm has the following of
Paul:
 
"The most detailed physical description we have of Paul comes from an
eyewitness resident of Iconium named Onesiphorus who describes Paul
as, "a man of small stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a
good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked." "
 
And http://www.webwriterscanada.com/anewyou/smsermon.html claims tha
the tallest disciple was JUDAS ISCARIOT.
 
Thanks again for an interesting question.
 
-=clouseau-ga=-

Hello teddybear-ga,

I began to answer your question, but did not find enough data to
complete an answer. Here is my research:

This is one of those questions that may not have an answer. Even
experts disagree about the height of Jesus and to a certain extent,
one must have faith in their expert to ascertain an answer they are
comfortable with.

http://christianity.about.com/library/weekly/aa052598.htm quotes that
"...the New Testament contains no physical description of Jesus...".
This is echoed on many other websites.

That being said, I have found the following conflicting information
using both "christ +height" and "jesus christ" +height search
strategies.

At http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcqu.htm :

"We do not know whether he was tall or short. The image on the Shroud
of Turin (believed by many to be the burial shroud of Jesus) is of a
man variously estimated to be 5' 11½" to 6' 2" tall. Jews who lived in
the 1st century CE were much shorter than this. Writer William Harwood
comments: "According to a medieval writer, [the Jewish historian]
Josephus described Jesus as an old-looking man, balding, stooped, with
joined eyebrows and approximately 135 cm (4ft 6 in.) tall." 2 This is
based on the standard 46 cm. long regular cubit -- an ancient unit of
distance. Using the 53 cm. special cubit, Jesus' height would have
been about 156 cm (5ft 1in.). Harwood also makes the point that if
Jesus were really 6 feet high, his height would have been so
remarkable that he would certainly have been described as a very tall
person by the writers of the Christian Scriptures."

 and http://www.originalsource.com/pages/shroud.html claims:

OF ALL RELIGIOUS RELICS, the reputed burial cloth of Christ, the
Shroud of Turin, is without a doubt one of the most mystifying objects
in existence. Sepia-yellow in color, the imprint of a man’s body is
seen on this 8 ft. linen cloth.  The body was that of an adult male,
nude, with beard, mustache, and long hair falling to the shoulders. 
Height is estimated at between 5 ft. 9 in. to 5 ft. 11 in., weight at
165-180 lb., age at 30 to 45 years.


For a humourous take on the question,  see
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_034a.html,where Cecil belives
he was a tall man.

http://www.pixelworks.com.ph/shroud/_disc1/00000016.htm has determined
that Jesus was 5' 10", though I did not find their research work
justifying their estimate.

The bible makes several references to Jesus being a tall man, however,
as you can see, estimates of his height vary greatly.

I could little reference to the height of the disciples.
http://www.lufkin.org/pages/actscommentary/14.htm has the following of
Paul:

"The most detailed physical description we have of Paul comes from an
eyewitness resident of Iconium named Onesiphorus who describes Paul
as, "a man of small stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a
good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked." "

And http://www.webwriterscanada.com/anewyou/smsermon.html claims tha
the tallest disiple was JUDAS ISCARIOT.

If you find this to be a sufficient answer, I would be happy to repost
it as such. If not, I wish you good luck obtaining the information you
desire.

-=clouseau-ga=-

The shortest disciple, of course, was Peter, because he slept on his watch.

(Old Sunday School joke. Sorry.)

Since there is no provable non-Biblical evidence these people even
existed, let alone physical descriptions, the question is
unanswerable.  Since even believing they were real is a matter of
subjective faith rather than objective evidence, any 'study' can be
nothing more than conjecture.

Don't know where Harwood the write got his description? There is
nothing about a physical description of Jesus in Josephus, certainly
not details like bald, short or joined eyebrows.

Josephus does offer one interesting memory that indicates Roman
crucifixion is not always fatal:
 
"I saw many captives crucified, and remembered three of them as my
former acquaintance. I was very sorry at this in my mind, and went
with tears in my eyes to Titus, and told him of them; so he
immediately commanded them to be taken down, and to have the greatest
care taken of them, in order to their recovery; yet two of them died
under the physician's hands, while the third recovered."

What's interesting is that the victims were crucified, Josephus saw
them, then he had to go find Titus or make an appointment to see
Titus, got permission to take them down and treat them.  And one
actually survived. Since Josephus didn't have a Corvette, it probably
took him the better part of a day to accomplish this mission of mercy.
 This is one historical account for a fellow being crucified and
surviving.

I'm certain you can find some sects which will have very firmly held
opinions, but since there doesn't appear to be ANY historical record
of Jesus anywhere, any answer would be nothing but conjecture.  Your
guess is certainly as good as anyone's.

There is a rough description of Jesus in some early Christian
writings. From memory, 1 Clement which was written before even some of
the New Testament so is very likely to be true. However it doesn't say
a lot more than that he was not a particularly handsome fellow. He was
humble even to his appearance. So next time you see those Catholic
pictures where his is very beautiful, that's likely wrong.