The Devil may wear Prada, but most folks in the Bible just wear pretty ordinary sandals. But (when) is a sandal only a sandal? This week, parishioner Thomas-Xavier Martin explores the difficulties of translation and exegesis that can arise in connection with even such a simple article, taking as his point of departure Ruth 4.7: “Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.” In discussing how we read the book of Ruth, Thomas-Xavier will look at legal categories in ancient Judaism, at how much we don’t know about the famous shoe ceremony, and at what textual variants may teach us. He will also reflect on the difficulty of understanding the symbolism of shoes in the context of the Hebrew scriptures, with examples from Amos and 1 Samuel.

This is a hybrid forum; please join us in the Parish Hall or on Zoom.

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