Body, Gender and Purity in Leviticus 12 and 15

Download or read book Body, Gender and Purity in Leviticus 12 and 15 written by Dorothea Erbele-Küster and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-08-10 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The so-called purity laws in Leviticus 11-15 reflect a cultic and social view on the male and female body. These texts do not give detailed physiological descriptions. Instead, they prescribe what to do in the cases of skin disease, delivery and wo/man's genital discharges, but the particular way of dealing with the body and the language used in Leviticus 12 and 15 ask for clarification: How do these texts construct the male and female body? Which roles does gender play within this language? By means of themes like menstruation and circumcision, the author unfolds the language used for the body in Leviticus and its interpretation history. The study provides material for a contemporary anthropology of bodies which relates the human sexed body to God's holiness.