Rites and Rank: Hierarchy in Biblical Representations of Cult

by Saul M. Olyan

Overview

Good and evil, clean and unclean, rich and poor, self and other. The nature and function of such binary oppositions have long intrigued scholars in such fields as philosophy, linguistics, classics, and anthropology. From the opening chapters of Genesis, in which God separates day from night, and Adam and Eve partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, dyadic pairs proliferate throughout the Hebrew Bible. In this groundbreaking work melding critical exegesis and contemporary theory, Saul M. Olyan considers the prevalence of polarities in biblical discourse and expounds their significance for the social and religious institutions of ancient Israel. Extant biblical narrative and legal texts reveal a set of socially constructed and culturally privileged binary oppositions, Olyan argues, which instigate and perpetuate hierarchical social relations in ritual settings such as the sanctuary.


Focusing on four binary pairs—holy/common, Israelite/alien, clean/unclean, and whole/blemished—Olyan shows how these privileged oppositions were used to restrict access to cultic spaces, such as the temple or the Passover table. These ritual sites, therefore, became the primary contexts for creating and recreating unequal social relations. Olyan also uncovers a pattern of challenge to the established hierarchies by nonprivileged groups. Converging with contemporary issues of power, marginalization, and privileging, Olyan's painstaking yet lucid study abounds with implications for anthropology, classics, critical theory, and feminist studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691029481
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	05/07/2000
Pages:	194
Product dimensions:	7.75(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Saul M. Olyan is Dorot Professor of Judaic Studies, Professor of Religious Studies, and Director of the Program in Judaic Studies at Brown University. He is the author of A Thousand Thousands Served Him: Exegesis and the Naming of Angels in Ancient Judaism and Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

List of Abbretiations xi

Introduction 3

Status and Hierarchy 7

Cultic and Quasi-Cultic Settings 10

Rites and Rank 11

1. Foundational Discourse: The Opposition Holy/Common 15

Holiness and Privilege 27

Conclusion 35

2.Admission or Exclusion: The Binary Pairing Unclean/Clean 38

Sources of Impurity 40

Degrees of Pollution and the Requirements of Purification 50

The Hierarchical Dimensions of UncleanlClean 54

Conclusion 61

3.Generating "Self" and "Other"- The Polarity Israelite/Alien 63

Forms and Functions of the Polarity Israelite/Alien 64

Contesting Alien Exclusion from Israel and Its Cultic Life 90

Cultural Mechanisms of Alien Incorporation into Israel 93

Conclusion 99

4.The Qualified Body: The Dyad Whole/Blemished 103

Blemishes and Inequality 111

Conclusion 113

Conclusion 115

Appendix. The Idea of Holiness in the Holiness Source 121

Notes 123

Index of Authors 175

Index of Biblical Citations 179

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This study is clearly written, well researched, and methodologically up-to-date. [Olyan] has given painstaking attention to textual details, yet has succeeded in presenting the results in a manner that helps the reader to assemble these details into comprehensible notions. He is also sensitive to the complexities of social differentiation in ancient Israel. Olyan has presented us with an excellent scholarly achievement on a par with his previous studies."—Douglas Knight, Vanderbilt University Divinity School.

Douglas Knight

This study is clearly written, well researched, and methodologically up-to-date. [Olyan] has given painstaking attention to textual details, yet has succeeded in presenting the results in a manner that helps the reader to assemble these details into comprehensible notions. He is also sensitive to the complexities of social differentiation in ancient Israel. Olyan has presented us with an excellent scholarly achievement on a par with his previous studies.

Recipe

"This study is clearly written, well researched, and methodologically up-to-date. [Olyan] has given painstaking attention to textual details, yet has succeeded in presenting the results in a manner that helps the reader to assemble these details into comprehensible notions. He is also sensitive to the complexities of social differentiation in ancient Israel. Olyan has presented us with an excellent scholarly achievement on a par with his previous studies."—Douglas Knight, Vanderbilt University Divinity School.

Editorial Reviews

"Olyan's book is thorough, meticulous, judicious, and nuanced; and he succeeds admirably in accomplishing what he sets out to do."—-Byron E. Shafer, Fordham University, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

"This is a significant book that uses anthropological approaches in a clear, non-flashy way to advance our understanding of biblical cult, and especially our conceptions of holiness. . . . Olyan is to be congratulated for writing a very readable, clear and interesting book on a topic that is central to biblical scholarship."—-Mark Z. Brettler, Jewish Quarterly Review

From the Publisher

This is a significant book that uses anthropological approaches in a clear, non-flashy way to advance our understanding of biblical cult, and especially our conceptions of holiness. . . . Olyan is to be congratulated for writing a very readable, clear and interesting book on a topic that is central to biblical scholarship.

Jewish Quarterly Review - Mark Z. Brettler

Olyan's book is thorough, meticulous, judicious, and nuanced; and he succeeds admirably in accomplishing what he sets out to do.

The Catholic Biblical Quarterly - Byron E. Shafer

This is a significant book that uses anthropological approaches in a clear, non-flashy way to advance our understanding of biblical cult, and especially our conceptions of holiness. . . . Olyan is to be congratulated for writing a very readable, clear and interesting book on a topic that is central to biblical scholarship.
— Mark Z. Brettler

Jewish Quarterly Review

Olyan's book is thorough, meticulous, judicious, and nuanced; and he succeeds admirably in accomplishing what he sets out to do.
— Byron E. Shafer, Fordham University

The Catholic Biblical Quarterly