The Jewishness of Jesus and ritual purity

Abstract

Today it is commonplace for historical Jesus scholars to emphasize Jesus’ Jewishness. At the same time most New Testament scholars deny that he cared about the Jewish purity system, which was a central aspect of early Judaism. This article examines how such a reconstruction of the historical Jesus would influence his Jewishness, arguing that it indeed would make such a Jesus figure ‘less Jewish’. The article also investigates questions concerning what Jewish identity in the late Second Temple period entails and how we may characterize the Judaism of Jesus’ time, especially in relation to purity concerns. Finally, I examine key Gospel texts that are commonly used as evidence to prove Jesus’ alleged disinterest in purity laws. On the basis of a proper understanding of how the purity system functioned in Jesus’ time, I conclude that there is no evidence for the view that Jesus was disinterested in matters of purity; quite the opposite.

Keywords

• Christianity and Judaism
• Jesus Christ -- Historicity
• Purity, Ritual -- Judaism
• Identity
• Jesus Christ -- Jewish interpretations
• Bible, New Testament -- Relation to Old Testament