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In the Jewish tradition, nobody is tricking God. There's a long history of legalism in the religion - God sets out his commandments in language and you take tha
by pclmulqdq 1y ago
In the Jewish tradition, nobody is tricking God. There's a long history of legalism in the religion - God sets out his commandments in language and you take that language at face value. Exact interpretation of that text is then debated by religious scholars, but the meaning of the words is entirely contained in the text.
For Christians and those raised in the Christian tradition, this is entirely foreign. The rules are not set out nearly as strictly for you, you have to interpret them much more broadly.
Generally, if you read their respective books, the old testament has a set of rules mixed in with a quasi-historical context, while the new testament is almost entirely in the form of parables.
Islam, by the way, goes back toward the Jewish legalistic idea.
- throwneawayx255 1y agoI am not sure one could argue that playing semantics is the most honest conduct in understanding. Only the most extremist of Muslims, the Salafi, take the Jewish legalistic idea, majority of other traditions in Islam lean towards Tafsir that squarely leans on “spirit of the law” than strictly the word.
- detourdog 1y agoIt's not about playing with semantics it's about interpreting texts. Jews have different sects as well with different interpretations.
- hersko 1y agoI'f argue the opposite. “spirit of the law” does not work with actual law though. Imagine trying to run a legal system off “spirit of the law”. It would never work. Semantics is the only honest way to interpret the law.
- chimineycricket 1y agoI'm not understanding most of this. >the Salafi, take the Jewish legalistic idea What is "the Jewish legalistic idea"? It's not a monolith. What makes a salafi a salafi has nothing to do with legalistic ideas. >majority of other traditions in Islam lean towards Tafsir This also doesn't make sense to me, as tafsir is exegesis of Quran. Salafis and all muslims care about tafsir. The core differences between different groups of muslims, loosely in order of priority, is which sources to take from after the demise of Prophet Mohammed, and then how to interpret any sources (incl. Quran) (literally (salafis), logically (shia), etc.). There are different tafsirs of Quran as well, and can have very stark differences. However loopholes are completely disallowed by all muslims.
- femto 1y ago> For Christians and those raised in the Christian tradition, this is entirely foreign. I'd say it is quite familiar to Christianity. Canon Law mirrors the secular legal system, complete with its own lawyers, courts and so on. (Arguably, it's the other way around: secular Western law that mirrors Canon Law.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_law
- pclmulqdq 1y agoCanon Law is only for Catholics and also only pertains to the management of the Church itself rather than to the behavior of individuals. All religions have this idea of textual interpretation to some degree, but it has comparatively more importance in Judaism.
- ajb 1y agoI'm not saying your main point is wrong, but there is a lot of legalistic quibbling over things like Lent. For example, various animals are classified locally as "fish" for Lenten purposes, including the Beaver (in Canada) the Capybara (in Venezuela) and the alligator (in New Orleans) See https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/105380/is-there-an-actual-bull-confirming-capybara-to-be-classified-a-fish-during-lent https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/105380/is-t...
- tptacek 1y agoAt this point in the conversation I would like to once again point out that Catholics once considered beaver tails (but not beaver bodies) "fish" for purposes of meatless Fridays.
- gizmo686 1y agoAnd in Jews consider birds to be "meat" because people in the 15th century kept getting confused. The Mosaic law is that the prohibition against mixing milk and meat applies to land animals; not water or sky animals (which each have their own set of rules).