Impurity and caste

Peter J. Leithart, May 01, 2006

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!