Gesila Nneka Uzukwu, «Gal 3,28 and its Alleged Relationship to Rabbinic Writings», Vol. 91 (2010) 370-392
Scholars have suggested that Gal 3,28 is comparable to similar sayings found in rabbinic writings, and that the latter can help in interpreting and understanding the meaning and theology of Gal 3,28. In this study we have analysed and compared the alleged similar sayings found in Jewish texts and Gal 3,28 in order to demonstrate that Gal 3,28 is neither literally nor thematically related to the former, and we should not allow the alleged similar sayings found in rabbinic writings to influence our reading of Gal 3,28. Both texts reflect the conceptual uses of pairs of opposites in the Greco-Roman tradition, but at the same time, their subsequent usages or occurrences in Jewish and Christian texts came into being independently from one another.
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GAL 3,28 AND ITS ALLEGED RELATIONSHIP TO RABBINIC WRITINGS
historical criteria or evidence to determine the representation of
women in ancient Judaism or rabbinic Judaism.
As Ross Kramer puts it, rabbinic writings contain “multiple
voices †with variety of topics shaped by the interaction with the
different social, cultural and religious worlds of ancient society 19.
With these concerns, she argues, an opinion cannot be taken as
conclusive evidence for the reconstruction of the attitude toward
women or the kind of social practice in the rabbinic period. The
implication is that although rabbinic texts are of interest for what
they may reveal about the situation of women in antiquity, these
ancient sources must be dealt with critically.
Second, part of the difficulty in the discussion of the function
and meaning of the three blessings of gratitude found in rabbinic
texts has to do with the structure of those blessings. Compared to
the three expressions of gratitude found in Greek writings or the
three pairs of opposites found in Gal 3,28, the three blessings of
gratitude found in the Tosefta and in the Talmuds omit the first
member of each of the pairs of opposites listed in the blessings.
The omissions or rather the exclusive pattern of the three blessings
of gratitude found in rabbinic writings is an important indicator
one may wish to use to argue that the form of the three blessings is
uniquely Jewish and only really make sense from a context relating
to Judaism. In context, scholars have sought to use the omissions
or rather the form of the blessings to express underlying ideas
concerning the use of the term çdq (qadosh) in Jewish tradition. To
the extent that the three blessings of gratitude found in rabbinic
sources have been used in a religious context and are given
religious meanings, scholars are of the view that the omission of
one of the members of each of the pairs listed in the blessings is
likely due to how the term çdq functions in Judaism 20.
R.S. KRAEMER, “Jewish Women and Christian Originsâ€, Women and
19
Christian Origins (eds. R.S. KRAEMER – M.R. D’ANGELO) (New York 1999) 37.
S. ZUCROW, Women, Slaves and the Ignorant in Rabbinic Literature, and
20
Also the Dignity of Man (Clark, NJ 2008) 80. According to T.D. SETEL,
“ Roundtable Discussion: Feminist Reflections on Separation and Unity in
Jewish Theologyâ€, JFSR 1 (1985) 113-118, 114, the Jewish concept of “holiness
as separation†bears strongly on the way “role relationship plays in the tradition
and, conversely, the extent to which Judaism incorporates patriarchal modes of
thought in the form of dualistic separationsâ€. BDB, 871-874, lists a wide range
of meanings for the Hebrew word çdq and its cognates. It includes apartness,
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