Jesus and purity : an ongoing debate.

Abstract

The importance of purity legislation and the "separateness" that it implied within Second Temple Judaism confirms the significance of the renewed interest in purity issues in "historical Jesus" research. The relevance of John the Baptist's "baptism" is less clear than at first appears. But that Jesus himself shared at least some purity priorities is implied by Mark 1.44 and by his "cleansing of the Temple". Yet he also sat loose to the purity "halakhoth" regarding clean and unclean and table-fellowship, which suggests that Jesus did not regard such concerns as central to the definition of Israel and its practice.