The Strange History Of Tattoos

Even though Leviticus is included the Christian Bible, the verse about not getting tattoos was pretty much ignored, just like similar Jewish laws on eating kosher. According to the Catholic News Agency, that particular branch of Christianity has never had a ban on body art. Sometimes people bring up a supposed rule against them brought

Even though Leviticus is included the Christian Bible, the verse about not getting tattoos was pretty much ignored, just like similar Jewish laws on eating kosher. According to the Catholic News Agency, that particular branch of Christianity has never had a ban on body art. Sometimes people bring up a supposed rule against them brought in by Pope Adrian I in the 700s, but there's absolutely no evidence for this. Some later Christian churches weren't the biggest tattoo fans (usually the ones that don't like other fun stuff like alcohol; Mormonism strongly discourages them, for example), but there has never been a Christianity-wide ban.

Quite the opposite is true, in fact. In the Roman Empire, before Christianity was legal, early believers would often tattoo themselves with signs of their faith, marking themselves permanently as followers of Christ and, ironically, criminals. In the Bible, Paul says he "bears the marks of Jesus" on his body, and while scholars think he was being metaphorical, it isn't certain.

Christians kept up the body art even once their religion was widely accepted. Early historians talk about the practice, and popular design choices seem to have been crosses and marks representing the wounds of Jesus. In 787, a church council determined that Christians with tattoos were to be "greatly praised," but only if the art was religious in nature. And for the past 700 years, it's been a tradition for Christians who visit the Holy Land to get a tattoo to commemorate the experience.

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