18 Feb

Biblical notions of purity make more sense when placed in comparison to cultural norms in place a the time of its writing, or to other primeval religions. Purity is a wholeness of being, while impurity chips away at a person and breaks them down. From Leviticus, we can take purity to go hand-in-hand with “physical perfection”, according to Mary Douglas (52). Purity signifies a lack of a single blemish and places one within a larger order. Douglas uses the example of dirt to illustrate that anywhere we see “dirt”, there is also systematic ordering in place. The laws in place in Leviticus seem especially stringent, or even unnecessary for a well-meaning individual. However, God puts these purity laws in place for a people living in sin, who need to be subject to some kind of order. They are a move toward a re-ordered creation which will eventually be restored in his Son, Jesus. This explains why, for Catholics, these ancient purity laws are no longer necessary for right relationship with God. Today, we often think of the daily practices we undertake for maintaining purity as decent hygiene. In ancient times, purity practices were strongly symbolic, and often meant to preserve class structures in society. Our understanding of medicine and disease transmission has obviously changed drastically since Biblical times, and most could argue that symbolic rituals have no place in a modern society. Heavy topics such as adultery, homosexuality, and gender relations are dealt with in much different ways than they would be discussed today. We must be able to make the distinction between moral, natural law and cultural, historical law. However, when placed in proper historical context, a reading of Leviticus helps readers of any age on their path to holiness, and allows us to understand how important it is to attain ultimate companionship with God.