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Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism 1st Edition

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Jonathan Klawans (Author)
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5.0 out of 5 stars 3 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0195395846
ISBN-10: 0195395840
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 388 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (May 13, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195395840
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195395846
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.9 x 6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,175,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsAn essential volume
By L. Wolf on November 3, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I first became interested in Leviticus after listening to Christine Hayes's lectures on the book (Open Yale Courses). I started reading Grabbe, Levine, Milgrom and other scholars on Leviticus, and I have found them all very helpful, but this is simply the best book that I have found on the Temple cult. Anyone who is interested in the Temple cult or Leviticus (and the other "Priestly" traditions) more broadly should read this book. Many people think of the Temple cult as largely confined to Leviticus, Numbers, and Ezekiel, but the truth is that the Temple cult is one of the most important and fundamental parts of the whole Bible - both Old Testament and New. One simply cannot understand the Old or New Testament without a thorough understanding of the Temple cult. Unfortunately, as Klawans himself explains, scholarship on the Temple cult has long suffered from various prejudices and biases. Klawans' book is a vital corrective to these prejudices, and it contributes greatly to our understanding of the Temple cult in the OT, the Second Temple period, and the NT. I wish that every believing Jew and Christian would read this book, and that all rabbis and pastors and priests would do so as well. I am a believing Christian, fairly conservative in my theology, and Klawans' book has enriched my understanding of the Bible and Christianity perhaps more than any other book. If I ever have the fortune to meet the author, I hope to buy him lunch. Seriously. Scholarship like this is incredibly value, and the scholars who produce it deserve a tremendous amount of thanks. Scholars like Klawans should be as well known as professional athletes. Buy this book!!
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5.0 out of 5 starsare items that only the poor would use (richer people would have been buying different ...
By dmlq48 on July 13, 2015
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Jonathan Klawans, Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). Pp 372.

Klawans challenges long held notions concerning biblical notions of sacrifice and purity in modern scholarship. Any scholar who writes about these subjects without consulting Klawans’s work will be greatly outdated.

Until now, contemporary scholarship on purity and sacrifice has been influenced by several factors: 1) Christian and Jewish supersessionism, 2) evolutionary schemes, and 3) understanding sacrifice only as literal. Klawans shows that these understandings fail to account for how the ancient Israelites themselves understood the purity and sacrificial system.

Klawans first makes a distinction between ritual impurity, and moral impurity. Ritual impurity comes about though natural means, such as birth, death, bodily flows, etc. He remarks that purifying oneself of these sorts of impurities makes one more god-like, thus allowing one to enter the temple.

The other impurity is moral impurity, also known as abominations. These include transgressions such as idolatry, sexual transgression, bloodshed, and economic exploitation. The only resolution for these is atonement or punishment, and, ultimately, exile. These sorts of impurities do not ban someone from entering the temple, but they do defile the Temple, and the land.

Klawans argues that the ancient Israelites understood sacrifice as imitatio Dei; that is to say that they saw themselves as imitating God (tied to ritual impurity) within the Temple, which was a microcosm of the world.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsRock solid scholarship
By TwinMamma on May 9, 2016
Format: Paperback
This book was purchased for me by one of my blog readers and I love it. Among other things, Klawans sets down a rock solid case for the positive portrayal of the Temple through the words and actions of Jesus, the disciples and especially Paul. This volume has become an essential addition to my Temple Studies book case.
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