OK, I mentioned this is passing in the last post, but talking to Liv clarified it a bit. Have I got this right?
I think (?) that the traditional view of Mark 7, Mark is supposed to be describing Jesus as making a _new_ declaration. "You know all that Kosher stuff, don't worry about it. Being a good person is more important." In fact, it explictly says "(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods 'clean')".
However, I think (?) that the brackets were added by the translator, who didn't necessarily know much about 25AD Jewish laws and customs. Is that right?
If so, I'm mildly shocked. I mean, I know that the bible has been passed down and interpreted before it was written down, but I'm used to thinking of what we have now as fairly fixed, and the best record of what Jesus (probably) said. But no, people just went ahead and added stuff :(
However, I think if I've got this right, that parable makes more sense interpreted with a knowledge of the difference between Kashrut (dietary laws) and cleanliness. Eating non-Kosher food was a restriction on what you could _do_, but it didn't put you into a special state of uncleanliness. Kosher was what _everyone_ did.
( Read more... )
I think (?) that the traditional view of Mark 7, Mark is supposed to be describing Jesus as making a _new_ declaration. "You know all that Kosher stuff, don't worry about it. Being a good person is more important." In fact, it explictly says "(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods 'clean')".
However, I think (?) that the brackets were added by the translator, who didn't necessarily know much about 25AD Jewish laws and customs. Is that right?
If so, I'm mildly shocked. I mean, I know that the bible has been passed down and interpreted before it was written down, but I'm used to thinking of what we have now as fairly fixed, and the best record of what Jesus (probably) said. But no, people just went ahead and added stuff :(
However, I think if I've got this right, that parable makes more sense interpreted with a knowledge of the difference between Kashrut (dietary laws) and cleanliness. Eating non-Kosher food was a restriction on what you could _do_, but it didn't put you into a special state of uncleanliness. Kosher was what _everyone_ did.
( Read more... )