Quote 3189

despite the almost universal tendency on the part of NT exegetes to explain Jesus' prohibition of divorce against the "background" of the debate between the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel, this tendency may actually be a prime example of the anachronistic use of later texts to explain earlier ones. That is, a text written down for the first time at the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. (the Mishna) is called upon to educate a teaching of Jesus reaching back to the early part of the 1st century A.D., with written attestation in the 50s by Paul and ca. 70 by Mark. Considering the dearth of any clear attestation of the dispute over the grounds of divorce between the Houses in the pre-70 period, we would do well, at least initially, to explain Jesus' teaching on divorce soley in light of what is truly prior to and contemporary with the Palestinian Judaism of the 1st century A.D.

John P. Meier

Law and Love, 95

0.9K 

John P. Meier Divorce Remarriage

       0

Other Quotes from the Author & Topic