Original Research - Special Collection: A.G.van Aarde Festschrift

Salt for the earthen oven revisited

John J. Pilch
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 67, No 1 | a826 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v67i1.826 | © 2011 John J. Pilch | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 08 April 2010 | Published: 11 April 2011

About the author(s)

John J. Pilch, Department of Theology, Georgetown University, United States Department of New Testament Studies, University of Pretoria, South Africa, United States

Abstract

The symbolic interpretation of the salt sayings in the New Testament (Mt 5:13; Mk 9:42–50; Lk 12:49–53; 14:34–35) is best based on the long-standing cultural practice of using salt as a catalytic agent to burn dung, the common fuel for the typical earthen oven used by peasants even to this day. Seasoning and preservation are culturally inappropriate.

Keywords

Salt; earth; dung; earthen-oven; catalyst; agonstic culture

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