Language:
English
Year of publication:
2019
Titel der Quelle:
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Angaben zur Quelle:
42,1 (2019) 3-17
Keywords:
New Testament. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Post-biblical literature Relation to the New Testament
;
Gentiles
;
Food Religious aspects
;
Judaism
;
Animals Religious aspects
;
Judaism
;
Kashrut History
Abstract:
Peter's vision in Acts 10 ostensibly concerns dietary laws but is interpreted within the narrative as a revelation of God's mercy towards the Gentiles, culminating in the baptism of Cornelius' household. How this vision pertains to the immediately following events has remained a problem in scholarship on Acts. This article argues that the vision depends on earlier apocalyptic Jewish depictions of various nations as animals (and empires as hybrid beasts) and allegorical explanations of the food laws familiar in the Second Temple period in which the forbidden animals are understood as representing those peoples with whom Israel must not mix. What seems on the surface to refer to food is therefore naturally understood within this genre as a reference to nations and peoples. Acts 10 thus makes use of standard Jewish apocalyptic tropes familiar to its audience but less familiar to modern readers.
DOI:
10.1177/0142064X19855564
URL:
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