Casuistic and apodictic: part 3: Jesus reads more Scripture
We look at how Jesus reads other Bible passages (still in Matthew 5) to begin confirming the hypothesis that to read Scripture with Jesus is to make it so extreme that rules (casuistic law) become goals (apodictic command). Before you get to the next podcast it would be a good idea to listen to "What DOES "fulfil" mean?" and "Jesus as fulfilment of Scripture: Slavery and Spanking"
In this I'll tell you how I think Jesus offers the key to how we should understand the casuistic laws of the Old Testament. It's simple, but as I'll go on to show in later 'casts profound. The clue is found in a passage we've looked at before (Matt 5) especially in Matt 5:17-22. (See here for that 'cast, and here for a whole sermon ;) .
Casuistic and apodictic: part 1: What the terms mean
The distinction between casuistic and apodictic formulations of "legal" material in the Bible, seems like a prime example of scholarship which has lost touch with the needs of real Bible readers. Not least the abstruse technical language puts people off. Yet this distinction has deeply theological consequences, and Jesus seems to "fulfill" OT law (at least in part) by rephrasing the casuistic as apodictic.
In this first part I'll begin the boring stuff, and introduce what scholars meant by distinguishing casuistic from apodictic material in the laws of the Old Testament. Part 2 will get to the exciting stuff. (I know this is not the best way to gain your attention, but sometimes work is needed before the fun can start.)
More than 5 minutes, so not a podcast for here, but if you want to listen to something longer (like 30 mins plus question time) I've posted this morning's sermon to my blog: Matthew 5:17ff. : How to Read the Old Testament. Taking the "difficult" passage from the sermon on the mount and asking what does it mean to say that Jesus "fulfils" the Old Testament.
