Much has been written about ritual impurity in ancient Judaism, but the question of how the ancient Jews understood the relationship between defilement and sin has largely been ignored. This book offers a systematic exploration of the topic. The book takes the results of current research on the Hebrew Bible and applies them to early Jewish and Christian groups. The Bible, it shows, considers the moral impurity generated by sin to be entirely distinct from (but no less real than) the ritual impurity generated by bodily function such as menstruation. The book then traces the relationship between ritual and moral impurity from early Jewish sects through the New Testament and the theology of Saint Paul, and shows how Christian theology arrived at the point where the need for ritual purity was entirely rejected.
This study investigates the history and nature of Gentile impurity in ancient Judaism. It is deceptively simple to assume that Gentiles, who did not observe purity laws, would have been considered ritually impure as a matter of course. Indeed, a number of scholars maintain this position. In fact, however, the situation is a bit more complex. Ancient Jewish sources reflect two conflicting tensions. On the one hand, both biblical and rabbinic law(considered Gentiles to be exempt from the laws of ritual purity. On the other hand, Gentiles ate impure foods, came into regular contact with impure substances, and–what is worse–committed idolatry and defiling sexual acts. Ultimately, some rabbinic sources do state that Gentiles are, in fact, ritually impure (e.g., T. Zabim 2:1). The goal of this paper is to analyze, distinguish, and trace the history of these tensions and developments in ancient Judaism.
Contemporary biblical scholarship is changing at a rapid pace. The variety of methods for interpreting the Bible has increased dramatically in recent years, as is shown, for example, by the growing interest in literary approaches such as narrative criticism, and in approaches focused on areas outside both literary and biblical research, for instance, the articles on biblical themes as interpreted in the cinema. The past twenty-five years have seen a growing interest by biblical scholars in structuralist criticism, reader response criticism, rhetorical criticism, social-scientific criticism, feminist interpretation, ideological criticism, and deconstructive criticism, in addition to major advances in the work being done on the broader contexts within which ancient Israel and early Christianity developed. Long-standing methods of research have undergone substantial reappraisal, as, for instance, in the areas of 'biblical' archaeology and the history of early Israel. The field now reaches well beyond the encompassing historicalcritical consensus that had dominated biblical scholarship throughout most of the twentieth century. This increasing variety and flexibility in method has added richness and depth to our understanding of the Bible and its contextual world. The growing variety of approaches is healthy and energizing, and indicates the vitality of contemporary biblical scholarship. However, this variety also makes it very difficult for scholars, especially those who teach or write across a broad spectrum of biblical studies, to stay informed about the numerous recent developments in the many different areas of biblical scholarship. Add to this the virtual explosion in books, journals, Festschriften, encyclopedias and online sites, and one can immediately see the need for a journal to keep readers apprised of recent developments in this rapidly expanding field of scholarship. Given this increasing diversity of methods and interests in contemporary biblical scholarship, the need for Currents is even clearer today than it was when the first issue was published in 1993. Currents also welcomes proposals for articles relating to all facets of Judaism in the late Second Temple and early Rabbinic periods. This includes, but is not limited to, essays on recent research in Pseudepigrapha, Qumran, Mishnah, Midrash and Talmud, as well as studies on ancient Jewish interpreters such as Josephus and Philo. We are especially interested in articles that address texts and issues of interest to the field of biblical studies, broadly conceived. Jonathan Klawans looks forward schuyler kaufman
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.