The Noahite Commandments in „Talmud” – the Universalism of Judaism Towards the Expansion of Christianity („Sanhedrin” Treatise 56a–57a)

The end of the classical era marks the period of the expansion of Christianity in the Greek-Roman world which owes its success to the missionary activities combined with religious universalism. In the same period, Judaism formulates a universalistic moral message based on the oral tradition which it addresses to the non-Jews – the so called seven Noahite commandments. It is also a period of consolidation of the oral tradition of Judaism in Talmud, in which one may find a story relating to the Noahite laws. A sizable part of the article is taken up with a translation accompanied by commentary of a fragment of gemara of the Sanhedrin treatise 56a–57a from the Babylon Talmud. The above fragment constitutes the first part of the so called „Noahite digression” and is devoted to a rabbinical debate devoted to the catalog and sources of the Noahite commandments. According to a commonly accepted view, the commandments in question consist of seven laws: a ban to indulge in idolatry, blasphemy, murder, sexual promiscuity, robbery and consumption of any part of a living animal, as well as an injunction to create a legal system. It is commonly assumed that the biblical source of the above commandments is a verse in the Book of Genesis: „Then Yahweh God gave the man this admonition: »You may eat indeed of all the trees in the garden«” (Gn 2:16).

The end of the classical era marks the period of the expansion of Christianity in the Greek-Roman world which owes its success to the missionary activities combined with religious universalism. In the same period, Judaism formulates a universalistic moral message based on the oral tradition which it addresses to the non-Jews – the so called seven Noahite commandments. It is also a period of consolidation of the oral tradition of Judaism in Talmud, in which one may find a story relating to the Noahite laws. A sizable part of the article is taken up with a translation accompanied by commentary of a fragment of gemara of the Sanhedrin treatise 56a–57a from the Babylon Talmud. The above fragment constitutes the first part of the so called „Noahite digression” and is devoted to a rabbinical debate devoted to the catalog and sources of the Noahite commandments. According to a commonly accepted view, the commandments in question consist of seven laws: a ban to indulge in idolatry, blasphemy, murder, sexual promiscuity, robbery and consumption of any part of a living animal, as well as an injunction to create a legal system. It is commonly assumed that the biblical source of the above commandments is a verse in the Book of Genesis: „Then Yahweh God gave the man this admonition: »You may eat indeed of all the trees in the garden«” (Gn 2:16).