Endnote 2 – Did Jesus Oppose the Purity Laws?

Jesus, Crossan argues, presented himself as the Temple’s “functional opponent, alternative, and substitute” (The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant [San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993], p. 355); Jesus’ touching the sick and eating with sinners was intended to “shatter” boundaries erected by purity regulations, (p. 323). Crossan extends this argument in Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994).