Re: PORNEIA
From: Steven Craig Miller (scmiller@www.plantnet.com)
Date: Sun Oct 17 1999 - 07:38:22 EDT
To: Carl W. Conrad,
Michael Abernathy wrote: << Paul Dixon said porneia "cannot be
adultery or prostitution, since the lawful punishment for such is death
by stoning." You might want to reconsider this argument.
There is substantial evidence that during the New Testament period
divorce, not stoning, was the usual consequence of adultery (See. Markus
Bockmuehl's article "Matthew 5.32; 19.9 in the Light of Pre-Rabinnic
Halakhah" New Testament Studies vol. 35, 1989, pp.
291-295). Also consider Joseph's planned divorce of Mary upon
finding that she was pregnant. >>
CWC: << Ah ..., but that was because he was a DIKAIOS ANHR!
>>
My favorite translation for DIKAIOS is "civilized" (see LSJM);
and I supposed if one translated DIKAIOS ANHR here as "civilized
man," and anachronistically gave Joseph 20th century values, you
would have a point. On the other hand, it would seem almost anti-Semitic
to assume that every "righteous man" would be more lenient than
what the Jewish law requires, while only one less than a "righteous
man" would uphold the Jewish law. Surely you don't mean to suggest
that, yes?
IMO, it would be a fallacy to assume that 1st century Torah observant
Jews always followed the letter of their law, when there is evidence that
1st century Jewish jurisprudence held that one could fulfill the command
to "purge the evil from your midst" (cf. Deut 22:20-21) through
divorce.
-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller@www.plantnet.com
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: Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:40:43 EDT