| Abstract | Paper -a:
In De legibus, a lengthy treatise on the laws of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, William of Auvergne, university master and then bishop of Paris (1228-1249), emphatically and repeatedly defends the value of the Law of Moses understood according to the letter. William's defense of a thoroughgoing literal interpretation of the Law, though unusual, follows both Christian and Jewish precedents; Abelard (1079-1142) and Maimonides (1135-1204) are probable direct influences on William. And, though William rejects most vehemently the continued observance in Christianity of certain commands of the Law - the practice of circumcision has become an 'abomination' that, along with animal sacrifice and the sabbath rest, now constitutes a kind of idolatry for Christians, where it was once a guard against idolatry for Jews - he simultaneously embraces the continued observance of 'the greater part' of the commands, including non-moral commands of the Law. His impassioned engagement with Leviticus 15 and its teachings on the impurity associated with male and female genital discharges (semen and other discharges from the penis, menstrual blood and other bloody discharge from the vagina), as well as the rites of purification associated with such discharges, is an important case in point. His many arguments for the rationality of a levitical teaching on the literal impurity of menstrual blood, for example, include some that he seems to think apply only in ancient times and others - especially the ever present threat of sex-related idolatry - that are applicable in every age. Though William does not explicitly counsel the continued observance of the levitically mandated rites of purification from menstrual blood or other genital discharges, he admits the reality of such impurity and, thus, the necessity of purification among contemporary Christians as among ancient Jews.
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