Body, Gender and Purity in Leviticus 12 and 15

Description

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. Cover Title Copyright page Contents Preface Abbreviations Chapter 1 Mapping I. Language, Body and Gender II. Discourse History a. Discourse Analysis of the Body from the Perspective of Gender b. Translation as Part of Discourse and Interpretation History III. Survey of Research a. Source-critical and Form-critical Classification b. Correlations of Text and Practice c. Interpretive Models of Purity d. Perceptions of the Body and (Its) Gender IV. Outline Part I Exegetical Analysis Chapter 2 Leviticus 12 I. Translation (MT) II. Two Gendered Cases III. Microstructure a. Israel’s Descendants b. The Woman Who Produces Seed c. Male and Female Descendants d. As During the Days of Her Menstruation e. Foreskin of His Member f. Remaining in Accordance with the Blood of Purification g. At the Entrance to the Tent of Meeting h. She Shall Present a Yearling Sheep as a Burnt Offering i. He Completes the Purification Ritual j. She Is Pure as a Result of the Source of Her Blood IV. The LXX Rendering a. Translation b. Coining New Words c. Remaining in Her Impure Blood d. According to the Days of Her Menstrual Separation e. The Priest Shall Complete the Atonement Ritual V. The Origin of Cultic (Dis)ability and of the Gendered Body Chapter 3 Leviticus 15 I. Translation (Masoretic Text) II. Structural Symmetry as Gender Symmetry? a. Is the Introduction Gender-inclusive or Gender-specific? b. Does the Chapter’s Structure Imply Equality of the Sexes? III. Microstructure a. YHWH Spoke to Moses and to Aaron b. A Man Who Has a Discharge c. A Woman, When She Has a Discharge d. A Man Who Has a Seminal Emission e. Bleeding Beyond the Period of Niddah f. Whoever Touches Something…Shall Be Ritually Impure g. Every Person, Who…, Shall Wash His or Her Clothes h. A Woman Who Lies with a Man i. You [pl.] Shall Separate Israel’s Descendants j. This Is the Instruction IV. The LXX Rendering a. Translation b. Hebraisms in the Greek Text c. Genital Discharges V. Gender Neutral and Gender Specific Language of the Body Part II Biblical Anthropology as Discourse of the Body Chapter 4 Flesh I. The One-Gender Model II. Circumcision of the Flesh a. Circumcision as a Surgical Procedure b. Circumcision as Rite c. Circumcision as Covenant Sign d. Circumcision as Identity Marker e. Circumcision as the Fixing of Gender f. Circumcision of the Heart g. A Distinguishing Mark on the (Male) Body Chapter 5 Bodily Fluids I. Genital Discharge II. Seed a. The Female Seed b. Seminal Ejaculation III. Blood a. The Life Is in the Blood b. Physiology and Symbolic System Chapter 6 Menstruation I. Menstruation as Separation a. What Do Menstruating Women and the Land of Israel Have in Common? b. Bodily, Social, or Cultic Separation? c. Niddah as a Cultic Term d. Niddah as a Socio-religious Term e. Niddah as Pejorative and Polemical Term f. Discourse on Menstruation as a Boundary Marker II. Menstruation as Destabilization a. What Do Menstruation and Sickness Have in Common? b. Destabilization of Physical, Emotional, and Mental Balance c. Destabilization of Cultic Status d. Destabilization of Aesthetic and Religious Sensibilities e. Women’s Experiences? III. Menstruation in Narrative Texts a. ‘The way of women is upon me’ (Genesis 31.35) b. ‘The way corresponding to women’ (Genesis 18.11) c. ‘She was purifying herself from her impurity’ (2 Samuel 11.4) d. Narrative Texts Beyond the Conceptual World of the Purity-torot Chapter 7 The Cultic Perspective I. Impurity as Cultic Disability a. Is Impurity Material? b. Impurity as a Technical Cultic Term c. Impurity as a Marker of the Gender Boundary II. Purity as Cultic Ability a. Is Purity Material? b. Purification or Purity? c. Declarative Formulae Chapter 8 Prospects I. Textual Conceptions and Their Performative Practices a. Discourse and Translation History b. Leviticus 12 and 15 as Performative Regulations Creating Body, Gender and Purity c. From Practice to Theory of the Purity-torot and Back II. Leviticus and Body Practices as Survival Space in Exilic and Persian Times a. Fictionality and Normativity b. Leviticus as a Reading Space Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors