28. All About Circumcision

Tell Me the Story

Circumcision is probably the most controversial covenant in the entire scriptural story. From the onset of the common era, the implications of this covenant for the gentile world was the primary basis for the rift that would eventually split Pharisaical Judaism into two major groups, those of the Pauline persuasion which would evolve into Christianity and those of the Jerusalemite persuasion which would evolve into Rabbinical Judaism. There’s obviously nuance to this, which we will get into, but the point is that this very covenant became more of a symbol of division rather than unity… the unity of which, as we will see, was the original purpose. So why did this unfortunate bastardization of circumcision occur? And more importantly, why is circumcision seemingly so critical in the Old Testament but seemingly bypassed in the New? Is this even a fair question? Is there a dichotomy between circumcision in Genesis and circumcision in Paul’s writings? Let’s explore this question, not by attempting to justify how our religious traditions have treated this issue, but by how it functions in the story being told. Only then can we hope to answer this controversial but highly important conundrum. Intro and outro music Copyright © Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, used by permission. All rights reserved.