REL 2040

REL 2040: Great Books: The Bible and Western Culture

Fall 2013

Dr. Peter Bekins

Mary Douglas and Leviticus

The Priestly theology is reflected in the laws of Leviticus and Numbers. These laws emphasize purity and

ritual cleanliness. For instance, certain animals are declared “clean” while others are “unclean.” The

clean/unclean distinction is extended to many areas of life, and previous interpreters have attempted,

usually in vain, to find logical reasons why certain actions are clean or unclean.

Mary Douglas, however, applied an anthropological approach to the laws which shifted the focus away

from their origins and towards their function in society. Her thesis was that the function of ritual is to

define social boundaries and power relations.

For this assignment, you will read about Mary Douglas and apply her approach to a specific law or set of

laws within the Holiness Code in Leviticus 17-26.

To find resources, you may search on key terms such as: ritual, purity, clean, unclean, Leviticus, Mary

Douglas, etc. Make sure that your resources are both academic and that they are interacting with

Douglas’ anthropological method. Further, avoid discussions of the relationship between Leviticus and

the interpretation of the death of Jesus. Concentrate on the function of purity within ancient Israelite

society.

Suggested Bibligraphy

Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger. London: Routledge, 1984.

K.C. Hanson, “Blood and Purity in Leviticus and Revelation,” Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture

28 (1993) 215-30. [Available at http://www.kchanson.com/ARTICLES/blood.html (Focus on his

summary of Douglas in relation to Leviticus, not Revelation)]

Ronald Hendel, “Mary Douglas and Anthropological Modernism,” Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 8/8

(2008) [on Pilot]

David P. Wright, “Deciphering a Definition: The Syntagmatic Structural Analysis of Ritual in the Hebrew

Bible,” Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 8/12 (2008) [on Pilot]

[continued on following page]

Academic Commentaries on Leviticus

Baruch A. Levine. Leviticus. JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: JPS, 1989.

Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16. Anchor Bible, Vol. 3. Doubleday, 1991.

Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 17-22. Anchor Bible. Doubleday, 2000.

Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 23-27. Anchor Bible. Doubleday, 2001.

Gordon J. Wenham, "The Book of Leviticus," The New International Commentary on the Old Testament.

Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994.

Bible Dictionaries

David P. Wright and Hans Hübner, “Unclean and Clean,” in Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David

Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 6:729-45.