Why translating 'God's law' to government law isn't easy - Yahoo News

The relationship between certain interpretations of the Bible and public life in the U.S. continues to be in the headlines. During the March for Life anti-abortion rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2022, the Bible featured prominently, with passages from the books of Jeremiah and Proverbs, among others, on display.

The Museum of the Bible in D.C., located near the site of the rally, offered free admission during the March. A prominent speaker at the event was the Catholic priest Mike Schmitz, who hosts a popular podcast called “The Bible in a Year” and has published articles on his website pertaining to the Bible and abortion.

Some religious groups take the relationship between the Bible and American law and society even further. A movement called “dominionism” and a particular version of it called “theonomy” in Christianity have become prominent in part through politicians associated with the movement, such as Michele Bachmann and Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.

Many Christian dominionists want, in some fashion, to apply God’s law and Christian principles to American politics.

Yet few readers of the Bible realize that the laws then were not practiced in the way many think of laws functioning today.

Legal collections in the ancient world

In my research on the Bible and its legal material, I have come to the conclusion that much of the modern debate about the Bible in American society could be ascribed to mistaken literary genres. Ancient texts that might look like law codes today were not necessarily enforced as the law of the land in biblical times.

For example, laws from the Code of Hammurabi, an often-cited legal collection from King Hammurabi of ancient Babylon, have the familiar structure of modern, practiced law: If someone does something wrong, then that person is guilty according to the details of the law.

However, Hammurabi himself rarely referenced the collection. At times his own royal decrees were in violation of what the inscription says should happen.

source: https://news.yahoo.com/why-translating-gods-law-government-133736457.html

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