Corpus-Paul

["Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT comcast.net>]

on 9/1/02 4:18 PM, Bob MacDonald at bobmacdonald AT shaw.ca wrote:

> Somewhere in the Talmud is a phrase something like this: the blood of the
> covenant creates the world. (Anyone know where this is and what its history
> is in Rabbinic thought?)

Mishna Nedarim 3:11 (Neusner transl): "Great is circumcision, for if it were
not for that, the Holy One, blessed be he, would not have created the world,
since it says, 'Thus says the Lord: But for my covenant day and night, I
should not have set forth the ordinances of heaven and earth' (Jer. 33:25)."

For an excellent discussion of the texts and issues, see Lawrence A.
Hoffman, Covenant of Blood: Circumcision and Gender in Rabbinic Judaism.
Univ. of Chicago, 1996.

> Is it also a source of
> division within Judaism or not (for example between James and Paul)?

What division between James and Paul? he asked rhetorically.

Regards,
Mark
-- 
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
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