Purity and impurity are not just related to physical hygiene, but rather mean living in harmony or opposition to God. Purity means being free from immorality and contamination. Living in a state of impurity is not permanent, rather the rituals provide the means to gain forgiveness for sins and regain a state of purity. Mary Douglas explains that the primary purpose of the purity laws can be interpreted as creating unity in experience and order in society. A shared set of rules creates community and social pressures cause people to force each other into good citizenship as Douglas puts it. She writes that ideas about purity “have as their main function to impose system on an inherently untidy experience. It is only by exaggerating the difference… that a semblance of order is created” (p. 4). I had always wondered why there are such strict and seemingly arbitrary designations between what is pure and what is impure, but Douglas’ point sheds some light on why that is necessary. The purity laws create a distinct identity for the people of Israel and the observance of the same rituals and traditions serves to bind them together as a community. The reasoning behind the food laws is more obscure, since it cannot be explained solely by applying modern knowledge of bacteriology we have today. Such a complex and comprehensive system of food regulation may exist to protect the health and progeny of the Israelite people. Another explanation is that the food regulations are ethically motivated. Humanity is responsible not just to God, but also to the animals they were given dominion over in Genesis. The food laws can be interpreted as detailing the covenant between humanity and the rest of God’s creation.
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Julia Dubuque 
I think it’s very interesting how you bring in the idea of permanence or impermanence of purity, especially in their relation to forgiveness. Your response is very interesting in their contrast with the classic interpretation of the rules being an enforcement of the rules of a scary and vengeful God; instead, yours is a merciful God that wants the human person to be forgiven, and He gives him the exact way to do so to become a complete person, for the rest of the community, and therefore, for God.
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I agree that I have also been curious about the strictness with the pure and the impure. The food laws detail the covenant God has given humans and the rest of God’s creation. Do you think God is doing this out of punishment or for a different reason? Were the previous people too impure that strict laws needed to be put in place?
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I really liked how you analyzed why the purity laws are necessary because I was also confused by this. I think you perfectly stated the relationship between the food laws by tying it back to the main point of why they were instituted: to represent the covenant between humans and the rest of God’s creation. I was just a little confused still by Mary Douglas’ quote stating “It is only by exaggerating the difference…that a semblance of order is created”. When she says this what exactly does she mean by “difference”?
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You mentioned how the primary purpose of the purity laws is “unity in experience and order in society”, but in this case, I believe you can take it forward to mean unity and order in God. Additionally, I think the food laws have less to do with health or ethical motivations but are more symbolic of God’s ordering of His creation.
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