Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism

Abstract

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.

The conceptualisation of sin in the Gospel of Matthew

“…Jonathan Klawans (2000) has argued that a distinction needs to be made between impurity and sin in both Ancient Judaism and the New Testament as well as between moral and ritual impurity in order to understand the relationship between sin and impurity. Ritual impurity can be conveyed by natural and bodily functions and from one person to another.…”

MODERN ORTHODOXY’S ANCIENT PAST

“…Such as that imparted by touching a human corpse, for example; Jubilees actively sought to diminish the importance of such cultic impurity in his book. See Ravid (2002, 61-86); also Klawens (2000). 19.…”

Prescripciones rituales sobre la impureza sexual de la mujer. Coincidencias funcionales entre algunas Leyes Sagradas griegas y Septuaginta Lv 12 y 15, 18-33 (1ª parte)

“…Únicamente haré un repaso de síntesis. El estudio más importante, a mi juicio, como he indicado ya, es el de J. Milgrom 18 , al que se pueden añadir trabajos y monografías relativamente recientes, como los estudios de Jacob Neusner 19 , Tikva Frymer-Kensky 20 , Jonathan Klawans 21 , Mary Douglas (desde la antropología) 22 , Christine E. Hayes 23 , Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert sobre la pureza en el judaísmo 24 y, de la misma, su importante estudio sobre la impureza de la mujer menstruante 25 . Este último asunto se ha enriquecido últimamente también con los trabajos notabilísimos de Saye Cohen 26 .…”