Mary Douglas has observed that "Levitical impurity is a fact of biology, common to all persons, and also a result of specific moral offences that anyone is liable to commit such as lying or stealing . . . Biblical impurity is of no use in demarcating advantaged social classes or ranks."
But this is precisely what the Jews of Jesus' time had made it!
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, May 01, 2006 at 09:36 PM
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