Impurity and Sin in Ancient JudaismMuch 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 the first systematic exploration of the important topic to be published in the last seventy years. Jonathan Klawans takes the results of current research on the Hebrew Bible and applies them to early Jewish and Christian groups. The Bible, he 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. Klawans 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. |
Contents
Ritual and Moral Impurity in the Hebrew Bible | 21 |
Moral Impurity in the Second Temple Period | 43 |
Introduction | 63 |
Ritual Impurity and Sin in Tannaitic Literature | 92 |
Sin Defilement and the Departure | 118 |
Ritual and Moral Impurity in the New Testament | 136 |
Summary and Conclusion | 158 |
Bibliography | 217 |
| 227 | |
| 236 | |
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Common terms and phrases
1QpHab 4QMMT abomination ancient Jewish ancient Jews ancient Judaism articulated atonement biblical Büchler chapter concern Damascus Document Dead Sea Scrolls deceit defile the land defile the sanctuary defiling afflictions Deut Deuteronomy discussion distinct Divine Presence Douglas's exile Ezekiel Ezra Frymer-Kensky halakhah Hebrew Bible Holiness Code idea of moral idolatry impurity in ancient Impurity Systems Israelites Jacob Milgrom Jesus Jewish Law Jewish literature John's baptism Jubilees land of Israel Leviticus 1–16 Leviticus 18 menstruant metaphorical Milgrom Mishnah moral impurity morally defiling force Neusner passage Paul Pharisees Philo Pollution Press punishment purification Purity and Danger purity law Qumran Qumran sectarians refer regard ritual and moral ritual defilement ritual impurity ritual purity Sanders scholars Scripture second temple second temple period sectarian literature sexual sins Shabbat Sifra Sifre sinners source of moral source of ritual Studies tannaitic literature tannaitic sources Temple Scroll term Testament texts Tosefta traditions Unclean women