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corpus-paul - Re: Paul's persecution of the Church

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  • From: RSBrenchley AT aol.com
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Paul's persecution of the Church
  • Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 17:40:32 EDT


> In Galatians 2:2, Paul said that what was at stake for him in this conflict
> was nothing less than the success or failure of his life's work since his
> conversion to this Jewish sect 17 years earlier. His life's work, according
> to Galatians 2:8, was to convert as many Gentiles as possible. After 17
> years of his evangelizing, he probably had thousands of uncircumcised adult
> male Gentiles as "converts," but this was, after all, a Jewish sect up to
> that point, and the covenant-forming commandment, Genesis 17:14, required
> all of these men to become circumcised. Inasmuch as there did not at that
> time exist anaesthesia, nor antibiotics, this would have required
subjecting
> all of these men to an excruciating, and also dangerous, elective medical
> operation. In Philippians 3:2, Paul called it cutting into the body, and
> said that only dogs would demand that this be done to his men.

I'm not sure about the point regarding anaesthetics and antibiotics; does
anyone know anything about medicine in the ancient Mediterranean? Opiates
must have been known in the ancient world; were they ever used as
anaesthetics? The healing properties of honey, which contains an enzyme which
produces small quantities of hydrogen peroxide, and gives it an antiseptic
quality, were known in the ancient world. There is a modern article on honey
for healing at http://www.beekeeping.co.nz/info/molan.htm Propolis, which is
a mixture of plant resins collected by bees and used to plaster the inside of
the nest cavity, is a natural antibiotic which was known in the ancient
world, but as far as I know there's no actual proof of healing use. Most of
the work on it has been done in Eastern Europe, and I don't unfortunately
have any convenient English references.

Given the comment on 'disguising the marks of circumcision' in 1
Maccabees 1:16, which I assume refer to some form of surgery, and the
existence of Jewish proselytes, there must have been established procedures
for surgery on the adult penis, however painful and unpleasant, and there
must have been reasonable numbers of people willing to undergo it.

Regards,

Robert Brenchley
RSBrenchley AT aol.com
Birmingham UK




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