Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Vatican: "Christians Can Learn Much From 'Jewish' Exegesis of Past 2000 Years"

The Vatican sez:

... Christians can and ought to admit that the Jewish reading of the Bible is a possible one ...

... Christians can, nonetheless, learn much from Jewish exegesis practised for more than two thousand years ...

(The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, Pontifical Biblical Commission, Vatican, May 24th, 2001)

... Jewish biblical scholarship in all its richness, from its origins in antiquity down to the present day, is an asset of the highest value for the exegesis of both Testaments ...

(The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, Pontifical Biblical Commission, Vatican, March 18, 1994)
Both of these documents were signed by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

Here is a representative example of Judaic exegesis of Old Testament scripture from the past 2000 years. I leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusions as to the Vatican's statements in reference to it:

Rabbi Eleazar further stated: What is meant by the Scriptural text, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh? (Genesis 2;23) This teaches that Adam had intercourse with every beast and animal but found no satisfaction until he cohabited with Eve. (Babylonian Talmud, Yebamoth, 63a, London, The Soncino Press, 1961)

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