Wow! eBook
Leviticus As Literature
Author(s): Mary Douglas (Author)
- Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
- Publication Date: 17 May 2001
- Edition: Revised ed.
- Language: English
- Print length: 298 pages
- ISBN-10: 0199244197
- ISBN-13: 9780199244195
Book Description
This first full-scale account of Leviticus by a world renowned anthropologist presents the biblical work as a literary masterpiece. Seen in an anthropological perspective Leviticus has a mystical structure which plots the book into three parts corresponding to the three parts of the desert tabernacle, both corresponding to the parts of Mount Sinai. This completely new reading transforms the interpretation of the purity laws. The pig and other forbidden animals are not abhorrent, they command the same respect due to all God's creatures. Boldly challenging several traditions of Bible criticism, Mary Douglas claims that Leviticus is not the narrow doctrine of a crabbed professional priesthood but a powerful intellectual statement about a modern religion which emphasizes God's justice and compassion.
Editorial Reviews
Review
the great anthropologist Mary Douglas's surprising rereading of a very old text,Leviticus as Literature makes a discarded classic zing with new life. ― Valentine Cunningham, The Independent, 2000
About the Author
Mary Douglas is also the author of In the Wilderness, the Doctrine of Defilement in the Book of Numbers (1993).
