Lecture 9 - Tradition and LawIntroduction:
From the beginning, revelation was thought to provide not merely story but pre-
scription, that is, behavioral standards, which the believers soon expanded and
even attempted to organize into a law code.A. The Law in the Scripture- Written Torah and Oral Torah
a. According to Jewish tradition, Moses was given two Torahs on Sinai,
one written to pass on as what is now our Bible and the other to pass
on in oral form, the so-called “Oral Torah.”
b. Moses transmitted the Oral Torah to Joshua then it passed down
through reliable sources through the Pharisee. The Oral Torah
explained and expanded on the written Torah.
c. Around 200 CE the discussions concerning the Oral Torah were com-
mitted to writing as the Mishna. This was commented upon in detail by
the rabbis of both Palestine and of Babylonia. The Mishna plus the
“completion” (gemara) of the first group constitutes the Jerusalem or
Palestinian Talmud. The same Mishna with the gemara of the second
makes up the Babylonian Talmud. Each Talmud, but particularly the
Babylonian, became for Jews the authoritative understanding of God’s
revealed Law. - Quran and Tradition= Sharia
a. There are specific laws in the Quran as well as in the Bible—prohibi-
tions against gaming, swearing, drinking intoxicating spirits, dietary
restrictions, and some, like those for theft, are even accompanied by
explicit sanctions.
b. In Islam, the behavioral flesh is put in the Scriptural bones by resort to
the “custom of the Prophet.” Muhammad was the paradigm of the
Muslim life and so his advice and conduct, sometimes down to the
smallest details, provides a template for Muslim behavior.
Consider this...- In religious communities, can humans make laws?
- How is law related to scripture?
- What is more important, scripture or tradition?
Before beginning this lecture you may want to...
Read F.E. Peters’ Judaism,Christianity and Islam: The World and the Law
and the People of God, Volume II, Chapters 3 and 4.LECTURE NINE