In his views, man-made traditions are not sincerely following God’s commandments. For example, he disregards dietary restrictions, declares that the Son of Man is lord over sabbath, and does not make his disciples fast during the fasting period of Jews (Mark 7:18-19, 2:25-28, 8-22). While other Jews might have thought of breaking such traditions and laws as sin, Jesus openly condemned the laws themselves as paths that deviate from God’s commandments (Mark 7:8). His approach to Judaism is quite radical, for he denied long continued traditions that became the central part of worshipping and thus the Jewish identity. However, Jesus did not deny Judaism itself when he proclaimed that certain religious rules were superficial and misleading. Rather, he tried to reform Judaism through new interpretations of the Jewish scriptures to more effectively lead his followers closer to the Jewish God. Therefore, the movement Jesus himself had lead was still included in the boundary of Judaism, however radical his ideas were. In contrast, one of Paul’s goals was to expand this newly created religion, Christianity, which had already been separated from Judaism. Paul was obligated to create a new identity for Christians that could differentiate them from other religions, especially Judaism. Therefore, Paul brought Jesus’ teachings on emphasizing sincerity more than following superficial traditions, and added to …show more content…
Women were allowed to listen to his teachings, and they became some of his most dedicated followers who were present at the time of Jesus’ death when his apostles were not (Mark 15:40-41). Even after his death, the ones who visited his tomb to complete the burial by anointing his body were the women (Mark 16:1). This suggests that Jesus was not hesitant to have somewhat intimate relationships with these women, because it is usually the family members’ role to honor the dead and complete the rituals. In contrast to Jesus’ attitude towards women, Paul ordered them to keep silence in the church and veil their heads when they pray, arguing that their long hair serves exactly this purpose (1 Cor 14:33-35, 11:5-6, 13-15). He used the second creation story from Genesis, where Eve is created from and for Adam, to prove his argument that women are the subspecies of men and therefore inferior to men (1 Cor 11:7-9). This makes a stark contrast with Jesus’ more egalitarian view on women’s status as portrayed in The Gospel of Mark, because Jesus quotes the first creation story from the Genesis, saying that “God made them male and female” (Mark 10:6). Ultimately, Paul created new moral conducts that only women are subjected to, putting women under men’s dominance. This newly created religious hierarchy may be more than just a different