Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple

Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-19-539584-6
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 388 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 588 g

Ancient Jewish sacrifice has long been misunderstood. Some find in sacrifice the key to the mysterious and violent origins of human culture. Others see these cultic rituals as merely the fossilized vestiges of primitive superstition. Some believe that ancient Jewish sacrifice was doomed from the start, destined to be replaced by the Christian eucharist. Others think that the temple was fated to be superseded by the synagogue. In Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple
Jonathan Klawans demonstrates that these supersessionist ideologies have prevented scholars from recognizing the Jerusalem temple as a powerful source of meaning and symbolism to the ancient Jews who worshiped there. Klawans exposes and counters such ideologies by reviewing the theoretical literature on
sacrifice and taking a fresh look at a broad range of evidence concerning ancient Jewish attitudes toward the temple and its sacrificial cult. The first step toward reaching a more balanced view is to integrate the study of sacrifice with the study of purity-a ritual structure that has commonly been understood as symbolic by scholars and laypeople alike. The second step is to rehabilitate sacrificial metaphors, with the understanding that these metaphors are windows into the ways sacrifice was
understood by ancient Jews. By taking these steps-and by removing contemporary religious and cultural biases-Klawans allows us to better understand what sacrifice meant to the early communities who practiced it. Armed with this new understanding, Klawans reevaluates the ideas about the temple
articulated in a wide array of ancient sources, including Josephus, Philo, Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament, and Rabbinic literature. Klawans mines these sources with an eye toward illuminating the symbolic meanings of sacrifice for ancient Jews. Along the way, he reconsiders the ostensible rejection of the cult by the biblical prophets, the Qumran sect, and Jesus. While these figures may have seen the temple in their time as tainted or even defiled, Klawans argues, they
too-like practically all ancient Jews-believed in the cult, accepted its symbolic significance, and hoped for its ultimate efficacy.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Klawans, Jonathan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Spiritualität & Mystik (Kabbala, Chassidismus)
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien: Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Geschichte des Judentums Geschichte des Judentums: Biblische & Klassische Periode
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien: Kult, Riten, Zeremonien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I: Purity and Sacrifice in Biblical Israel
1.: Sacrifice and Purity: The Twisted Fortunes of Related Ritual Structures
2.: The Sacrificial Process of Ancient Israel
3.: Rethinking the Prophetic Critique
Part II: The Second Temple, Symbolism, and Supersessionism
4.: Temple as Cosmos or Temple in the Cosmos: Priests, Purity, Sacrifice, and Angels
5.: Sinful People, Impure Priests, and Inadequate Structures: The Temple as Defiled and Rejected
6.: The Purity of the Second Temple in Rabbinic Literature
7.: The Last Supper, the Temple Incident, and the "Spiritualization" of Sacrifice in the New Testament
Summary and Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Klawans is the Associate Professor of Religion at Boston University. His book Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism (OUP 2000) was awarded Best First Book in the History of Religions by the American Academy of Religion and won the Salo Wittmayer Baron Book Prize from the American Academy for Jewish Research.