What The Bible Says About Dairy (original) (raw)
Biblical Milk Taboos and Scientific Methodology with Ancient Nomenclature
Natural Resources, 2011
Human society and its religions and cultures have laid out numerous guidelines, often involving dietary restrictions . One such set of restrictions still observed by many Jews today relates to the distinction between pure and impure, edible and forbidden mammals (Talmud Bavli, Avoda Zara 35b). The ancient Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) have often perplexed both gentiles and Jews, since they appear to be arbitrary. Here we demonstrate that the separation of pure and impure animals coincides with taxonomic, biochemical, allergenic, and common nutritional properties.
Abstaining from meat consumption has persistently been a source of debate within religious communities, often functioning as a center pivot around which theological or philosophical orthodoxy and orthopraxy turns. Drawing upon diverse ancient practices, motivations, and textual perspectives in Judaism, Christianity, and Indic traditions along with contemporary religious vegetarians, this essay maps three stages that religious communities have historically grappled with, are presently attempting, and must continue to tackle, as they re/consider eating animals and animal by-products as part of their ethical identities and community meals: (1) critical, deconstructive engagement of textual multiplicity and interpretive authority, (2) robust analysis of human supremacy in light of animal behavioral studies, new materialist science, and empathic experience, and (3) constructing imaginative coalitions beyond species, institutional boundaries, and cultural identities.
Religions, 2018
In his biblical commentary, R. Abraham Ibn Ezra (c. 1090-1164) occasionally voices the contention that the language, culture, and lifestyle of the Muslim world are capable of contributing to our understanding of contemporary aspects of biblical stories and laws. The current paper deals with the influence of Islamic culinary art in medieval times on Ibn Ezra's Biblical commentary on the meat and milk ban. Ibn Ezra claims that the reality of the Arab kitchen, which includes the Bible lands, preserves the ancient ways of eating. Thus, we can understand the Bible ban in Muslim cuisine. According to the medieval dietary approach, cooking meat and milk is recommended because both products have similar properties. The meat of young goat healthier than lamb meat, so it is common to cook it. Muslims believe that the kid of a goat is better cooked in its own mother's milk, because the two products derive from the same origin.
To Eat or Not to Eat: Studies on the Biblical Dietary Prohibitions
2024
Anna Angelini and Peter Altmann address pivotal issues on the biblical dietary prohibitions and their significance as practices and texts through philological, zooarchaeological, iconographic, and comparative ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman lenses. They explore theoretical frameworks adopted in modern interpretation, possible origins in relation to ancient Israelite religion and society, and location in relation to Priestly terminology and Deuteronomic tradition. The authors expand the arc of investigation to the Second Temple reception of the prohibitions in both the Dead Sea Scrolls and Greco-Roman discourses from the first centuries CE. With their foundational studies, they provide an approach to the dietary prohibitions, opening the way for reconstructing their path of development into their present-day contexts. Table of contents: Preface 1. The Dietary Laws of Lev 11 and Deut 14: Introducing Their Ancient and Scholarly Contexts (Peter Altmann and Anna Angelini) 1. A Methodological View of the History of Scholarship 2. Human-Animal Relationships in Ancient Israel 3. The Hebrew Bible Context of Food and Drink Restrictions 4. Biblical Treatments of Meat Prohibitions 5. Questions for this Volume 6. Widening Horizons 2. Framing the Questions: Some Theoretical Frameworks for the Biblical Dietary Prohibitions (Peter Altmann) 1. Anthropological Terminology 2. Psychological Explanations 3. Materialist Explanations 4. Douglas and Other Structuralist Approaches to »Dirt« as Structural Anomaly 5. Synthesis 3. Traditions and Texts: The »Origins« of the Dietary Prohibitions of Lev 11 and Deut 14 (Peter Altmann) 1. Composition-Critical Concerns 2. Continuum: From »Sanctuary Ritual« to »Mundane Custom« 3. Mundane Customary Origins? 4. Sanctuary Ritual Origins? 5. The Influence of Household or Local Religion? 6. Ritual Practice and Ritual Text 7. Conclusions and a Possible Reconstruction 4. A Deeper Look at Deut 14:4-20 in the Context of Deuteronomy (Peter Altmann) 1. The Language of Deut 14:1-2, 3, 21 and 4-20 2. Abomination and Impurity in Deut 14 and Elsewhere in Deuteronomy 3. Mourning Rituals in 14:1-2 and their Link to vv. 3, 4-20 4. »You Are Children, Belonging to Yhwh Your God« 5. A Holy People and Treasured Nation: Deut 7:6; 14:2, 21; 26:18 6. The Relationship between Deut 14 and 26:12-15, 16-19 7. The Stipulations of Deut 14:21 in the context of Deut 14 8. Eating in Deut 14:1-21 in the Context of Deuteronomy 13 and 14:22-27 9. Summary 5. The Terms שׁקץ Šeqeṣ and טמא Ṭame' in Lev 11:2-23 and Deut 14:2-20: Overlapping or Separate Categories? (Peter Altmann) 1. The Usage of שׁקץ and טמא in the Rest of the Hebrew Bible and Their Relevance for Lev 11/Deut 14 2. The Usage of טמא 3. The Terms in Deut 14 and Lev 11 4. Conclusion 6. Aquatic Creatures in the Dietary Laws: What the Biblical and Ancient Eastern Contexts Contribute to Understanding Their Categorization (Peter Altmann) 1. Water Creatures from Iconography and Texts of Surrounding Regions 2. Water Creatures in Levantine Zooarchaeology and Evidence of Consumption in Biblical Texts 3. Sea Creatures in the Bible 4. Discussion of the Texts of Lev 11:9-12 and Deut 14:9-10 5. Reasons for the Prohibition? 6. Conclusions 7. A Table for Fortune: Abominable Food and Forbidden Cults in Isaiah 65-66 (Anna Angelini) 1. Introduction: Dietary Laws outside the Pentateuch and Isa 65-66 2. The References to Food in the Structure of Isa 65-66 3. Abominable Cults between Imagery and Practice 4. The Pig: A Marker for Impurity 5. The Greek Text: Sacrificing to Demons 6. Summary and Conclusions 8. Dietary Laws in the Second Temple Period: The Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls (Anna Angelini) 1. Introduction: Food in Dead Sea Scrolls and Biblical Law 2. Methodological Remarks 3. Main Tendencies in the Dead Sea Scroll Materials Related to Food Laws 4. Animals and the Purity of the Temple 5. Summary and Conclusions: Food Laws between Discourse and Practice 9. Looking from the Outside: The Greco-Roman Discourse on the Jewish Food Prohibitions in the First and Second Centuries CE (Anna Angelini) 1. Introduction: The Origins of the Greek and Roman Traditions about Food Prohibitions 2. The Greek and Latin Witnesses on Jewish Food Prohibitions in the First Century CE 3. The Polemic Use of Jewish Dietary Prohibitions in Juvenal and Tacitus 4. Plutarch and The Philosophical Tradition 5. Conclusions Appendix: Plutarch's Moralia, Table Talk IV, Question 5 (669 e-671c) 10. »Thinking« and »Performing« Dietary Prohibitions: Why Should One Keep Them? One Meaning or Many? (Peter Altmann) 1. Introduction 2. (Envisioned) Practice and Significance and the Myth of the Singular Explanation 3. Knowing How and When vs. Knowing Why
Frontier, Vol. 48, No. 21, Nov 29 -Dec 5, 2015. ISSN 0016-2094
The article deals with the controversy surrounding the holy cow and beef-eating and the communal politics that it has given rise to.
Dietary Laws about Animals in Semitic Religions: An Analytical Study
Dietary rules and regulations may govern particular phases of the human life cycle and may also be associated with special events. Dietary Laws are grounded into the religious thought, and anyone expects logical clarifications for the continuation and determination of these rules in light of the respective religious tradition. The Semitic religions: orthodox Jews, Christians and Muslims have undoubtedly directed their adherents about the foodstuff "meat" with particular terms and conditions. This study attempts to define the similarities and differences between Halal and Kashrut (Kosher) in the light of their religion's commandments. The study confined to the Holy Scriptures. A comparative approach has been applied to these dietary practices. Moreover, it was found that Halal constitutes a different dietary law (Shariah) than Kashrut and vice versa. Even though similarities are found but it does not permit for the statutes to be usually supposed as reflection of each other. This analytical work will provide theoretical orientation; make reference to relevant theoretical and empirical literature for adequate clarification and comprehension where needed. To avoid pointless details, only the verse number mentioned in footnotes and extracted commands are just mentioned in the article. Qualitative research methodology has been adopted about the dietary laws about animals in Semitic Religions.
The Consumption of Animals and the Catholic Tradition (2004)
Logos - Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, 2004
Historically, most if not all Catholics have abstained from eating animal flesh as an expression of their faith. Although most have abstained only for certain periods of time, others have abstained permanently. While Catholics have abstained for a variety of reasons, this essay focuses on distinctively theological reasons Catholics, especially in the early centuries of Catholicism, have chosen to abstain from consuming animal flesh. On the one hand, this essay will show how such abstinence has been an aspect of the spiritual practice of fasting and a response to the capital vice of gluttony. On the other hand, it will show how such abstinence has been predicated on Catholic doctrines concerning creation and nature, the Fall, and eschatology.
Food and Meals Oxford Biblical Studies Online
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law./Oxford Biblical Studies Online, 2009
The purpose of this article is to review biblical laws connected with food and meals, both as they are described in the Hebrew Bible and as they are interpreted subsequently in New Testament texts. Food and Meal Laws in the Hebrew Bible. In the Hebrew Bible, the laws concerned specifically with food and meals fall into three main areas: the laws prescribing (1) sacrificial meals that distinguished priests from non-priests, (2) the dietary rules that applied to all Israelites, and (3) foods specific to certain festivals like Passover and Sukkot. These food rules are of particular interest of the P (Priestly) source, so Leviticus presents a systematic exposition of the priestly sacrificial offerings (Lev 1-7), the dietary rules concerning clean and unclean animals for all Israelites (Lev 11), and specific foods and meals for the holidays (Lev 23). The D (Deuteronomist) source makes significant amendments to the priestly rules by permitting consumption of meat apart from the priestly sacrificial service due to centralization of the cult (Deut 12:15-15, 20-25). Elsewhere, it reiterates the dietary rules for all Israelites about clean and unclean animals in Deuteronomy 14:3-21. Most of the Hebrew Bible's food prescriptions focused on what kind of animal meat could be eaten, who could eat it, how it should be prepared, and when it could be eaten. There were also some rules concerned with the eating and apportionment of vegetable items, and agricultural rules specifying when produce was "eligible" to be eaten. What all of these food laws share is the assumption that by self-consciously making distinctions about what can be eaten-and by implication who can eat it, how it should be prepared, and when it should be eaten-Israelites would make themselves "holy" (qědōšîm), that is, separate and distinct. They were to be set apart, holy like "I Yhwh am holy" (Lev 11:44FF; 20:24-26). The priestly system of sacrifices in effect legislated rituals of "playing house" with God. The Israelites were to intimately experience God's company through regular "meals" with Him, albeit in ways that maintained the hierarchical distinctions of holiness the priests promulgated as God's "house rules." There are several main distinctions prescribed for the priestly meals. Some sacrifices were to be "consumed" entirely by God (the ʿōlōt) by being burnt up completely. Some were consumed by priests and God, that is, sacrifices with portions (like the kidney fat) prohibited to any human, the other parts prohibited to all non-priests and permitted only to male priests (the sin and guilt offerings-ḥaṭṭāʾt and ʾāšām, respectively). Other sacrifices could be consumed by priests; their female, minor family, and other household members; and God. And some sacrifices were divided and consumed by priests, their families, God, and ordinary Israelites. In addition to these meat sacrifices, there were vegetal sacrifices, like the grain (minḥâ) offerings and wine libations. Where, when, how it was cooked, and for what purpose effectively determined who could eat the minḥâ. While the minḥâ offering consisted of the same basic ingredients, such as the "choice flour," olive oil, frankincense, and salt (but without leaven or honey), it could be baked in an oven, or cooked on a griddle or pan. Only the male priests and God (in the form of a token handful burnt up into smoke on the altar) could eat parts of the minḥâ offering that were cooked and brought to the altar, but the first fruit offerings of parched grain that were brought "before God" but not to the altar per se could be eaten by the females and minors of the priests' families (Num 18:8-20). The priests and their families functioned as God's surrogates, eating on His behalf. Thus, the minḥâ offering, like the turtledoves or pigeons offered in lieu of sheep, goats, or bulls, permitted a less costly option for Israelites to participate in these sacred meals with God (Levine, 1989). Among the various types of sacrifices, a portion of them were voluntary, like the thanksgiving, vow, and Nazirite offerings; these were shared between the priests and the ordinary Israelites who made them. Other sacrifices were required but situational, like the guilt and sin offerings, of which ordinary Israelites could not eat. Certain sacrifices were time bound and were to be offered daily, or seasonally, including special ones like the Passover lamb or the goats on the Day of Atonement, or simply additional sacrifices on sabbaths and the pilgrimage festivals to distinguish those days from ordinary days. In addition to the sacrifices, the law considered the tithes for the Levites not only as compensation for their service in the sanctuary in lieu of holding land, but also as an "offering to Yhwh" (Num 18:24; Lev 27:30). The priestly laws require the priests who perform the sacrifices to be physically unblemished, like the animal victims they slaughter, and to be ritually clean. Furthermore, they or their families could eat the sacred offerings only when they were ritually clean, suggesting that these are the qualities of "the best" things fit to offer to God (
HTR, 2024
Toward the end of the Noahide commandment pericope in the Talmud (b. Sanh. 56-60), we find a sugya (pericope) featuring the prohibition on meat consumption imposed on Adam and its permission to the Noahides. This unique sugya pieces together halakic and haggadic sources that reinterpret the Garden of Eden story and address the complex relationship between humans and animals. This article will examine this sugya, focusing on its closing story, which describes a pietist who merits a gift of heavenly flesh. I will demonstrate that the story has many levels of meaning, grounded in both its immediate and wider contexts, and claim that it conceals a polemic with a similar Christian story (Acts 10), which describes impure meat that descends from the sky, undermining the cultural and halakic divisions between Jews and non-Jews. The comparison between the two stories reveals opposing worldviews with regard to law and lawlessness, utopia and redemption.
Old Testament dietary laws in contemporary African Christian practice
Verbum et Ecclesia
Old Testament dietary laws consist of the rules that God gave to the Israelites pertaining to what may be eaten and what should not be eaten. In the Old Testament, the animals that may be consumed are referred to as ‘clean’, whereas those which should not be consumed are referred to as ‘unclean’. The prohibitions on food were mainly aimed at preserving the identity of the people of Israel. This article analysed the dietary laws recorded in Leviticus chapters 11 and 17. It investigated the observance of the Old Testament dietary laws among contemporary African Christians, with specific reference to Nigerian Christians. The findings of this study revealed that in the contemporary Nigerian Christian practice, some Christians’ compliance or noncompliance to the food laws is faith-based, while for others it is not. Hence, some Christians obey the Old Testament food regulations on the premise of their loyalty to God, while some do not observe the dietary laws because they do not regard no...
Gastronomy and alimentary theology among Christians in Israel, Palestine and Jordan
This paper focuses on what gastronomy and alimentary theology means among Christians in Israel, Palestine and Jordan in 2018. The case study is based on preliminary sources such as cookbooks, interviews and personal observation in the area in February 2018 and should be seen as a case study. The content of the modern cookbooks indicates that the food culture in the area is vivid and rich, where the main ingredients are vegetables and grains. The study shows the complexity of claiming certain dishes as unique to one nation. Theology not only pays closer attention to matters related to food and nourishment, and the many ways they can relate, inspire and inform theological reflection. It is a theology that envisions itself as nourishment: food as theology and theology as food. Several of the informants have a clear vision for what gastronomy can do for a peaceful coexistence today and for the future. The key is education in order to understand each other and gastronomy plays a very important part in that since everyone has a relation to gastronomy. The alimentary theological approach to gastronomy and faith reflects in the informants and in the following observations, since it seems to be implicit in everyone. A person's relation to God can be very complex and include a lot of space and people, or it can be a very close relation only between oneself and God, in that sense gastronomy and alimentary theology have a lot in common.
Blessed Are the Cheesemakers: In Search of Ancient Roots of Dairy on Shavuot
Hakirah, 2021
He holds a master's degree in Jewish history from Bernard Revel Graduate School and rabbinic ordination from RIETS. He was an assistant editor of the Rabbinical Council of America's Siddur Avodat Ha-lev, has published in H akirah and Tradition and has forthcoming essays on the intersection of Jewish ideas and practices with history, philosophy, psychology and anthropology.