Violent Rituals of the Hebrew Bible

Although seldom studied by biblical scholars as a discrete phenomenon, ritual violence is mentioned frequently in biblical texts and includes ritual actions such as the disfigurement of corpses, destruction or scattering of bones from a tomb, stoning, and other forms of public execution, cursing forced depilation, the legally-sanctioned imposition of physical defects on living persons, coerced potion-drinking, sacrificial burning of animals and humans, forced stripping and exposure of the genitalia, and mass eradication of populations.

This book, the first to focus on ritual violence in the Hebrew Bible investigates these and other violent rites, the ritual settings in which they occur, their various literary contexts, and the identity and aims of their agents in order to speak in an informed way about the contours and social aspects of ritual violence as it is represented in the Hebrew Bible.

Author: Saul M. Olyan
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 11/01/2019
Pages: 180
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.00w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780190681906

About the Author

Saul M. Olyan is the Samuel Ungerleider Jr. Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University. He is the author, most recently, of Friendship in the Hebrew Bible.

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