Rites and Rank

203 Pages·2000·0.82 MB·English

by  Saul M. Olyan

RITESAND RANK

RITES AND RANK
HIERARCHY IN BIBLICAL
REPRESENTATIONS OF CULT
Saul M. Olyan
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright2000byPrincetonUniversityPress
PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet,
Princeton,NewJersey08540
IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress,
Chichester,WestSussex
AllRightsReserved
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Olyan,SaulM.
Ritesandrank:hierarchyinbiblicalrepresentations
ofcult/SaulM.Olyan.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-691-02948-2(cloth:alk.paper)
1. Social stratification in the Bible. 2. Worship in the Bible. 3. Bible.
O.T.—Criticism,interpretation,etc.I.Title.
BS1199.S59O49 2000
221.6—dc21 99-045170 CIP
ThisbookhasbeencomposedinSabon
Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsof
ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992(R1997)(PermanenceofPaper)
www.pup.princeton.edu
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
TO THE MEMORY OF MY COUSIN
Michael Eisenberg

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
ListofAbbreviations xi
Introduction 3
StatusandHierarchy 7
CulticandQuasi-CulticSettings 10
RitesandRank 11
1. Foundational Discourse:TheOppositionHoly/Common 15
HolinessandPrivilege 27
Conclusion 35
2. AdmissionorExclusion:TheBinaryPairingUnclean/Clean 38
SourcesofImpurity 40
DegreesofPollutionandtheRequirementsofPurification 50
TheHierarchicalDimensionsofUnclean/Clean 54
Conclusion 61
3. Generating“Self”and“Other”:ThePolarityIsraelite/Alien 63
FormsandFunctionsofthePolarityIsraelite/Alien 64
ContestingAlienExclusionfromIsraelandItsCulticLife 90
CulturalMechanismsofAlienIncorporation intoIsrael 93
Conclusion 99
4. TheQualifiedBody:TheDyadWhole/Blemished 103
BlemishesandInequality 111
Conclusion 113
Conclusion 115
Appendix. TheIdeaofHolinessintheHolinessSource 121
Notes 123
IndexofAuthors 175
IndexofBiblical Citations 179

Acknowledgments
ANUMBERofindividualsandinstitutionsdeservemythanksatthisjunc-
ture,and as always, itisagreatpleasureformetoacknowledgeeachof
them. Stanley Stowers, Lynn Davidman, Burke Long, Peter Machinist,
Edward Greenstein, David Konstan, DavidBrakke, BernadetteBrooten,
CarolynDean,andKathrynTannereachprovidedhelpfulsuggestionson
theinitialprojectproposaloutofwhichthisbookgrew.Iwouldalsolike
to thank the following friends and colleagues, each of whom read por-
tions of the manuscript in its penultimate or earlier forms and provided
valuable critical feedback and/or bibliographic suggestions: Lynn Da-
vidman, Stanley Stowers, Maud Mandel, Victor Hurowitz, Theodore
Lewis,ShayeJ. D.Cohen,andWendellDietrich.BurkeLong,PeterMa-
chinist,EdwardGreenstein,andMarthaNussbaumwerekindenoughto
writelettersofrecommendationtograntingbodiesinsupportofthispro-
ject. I would like to express my gratitude to the University of Pennsyl-
vania’s Center for Judaic Studies for providing a generous yearlong fel-
lowshipandanexcellentworkenvironmentthatmadethewritingofthis
bookpossible,andtoBrownUniversityformatchingfundsthatallowed
me to accept the fellowship. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to
presentmaterialsfromchapter3atthefellows’seminarofPenn’sCenter
for Judaic Studies in December 1997 and the faculty seminar of Penn’s
DepartmentofReligiousStudiesinApril1998.Ioweaspecialthanksto
participantsinbothseminarsfortheirsuggestions,especiallyBarryEich-
ler, Victor Hurowitz, and Robert Kraft. Deborah Malmud, of Princeton
University Press, has been an enthusiastic supporter of this projectsince
the day she visited the Center for Judaic Studies in September 1997. I
wouldliketothankhernotonlyforherinterest,butalsoforherhelpful
critical suggestions at various stages in the development of the manu-
script.IampleasedtoacknowledgebothDouglasKnightandTikvaFry-
mer-KenskyfortheircriticalandconstructivefeedbackduringthePress’s
reviewprocess.Both werekind enoughtoidentifythemselvestomeand
provide further suggestions after the review process was complete. A
small section of chapter 3 appeared in somewhat different form in the
article‘‘WhatDoShavingRitesAccomplishandWhatDoTheySignalin
BiblicalRitualContexts?’’JournalofBiblicalLiterature117(1998)611–
22.Muchofchapter4isderivedfrommyarticle‘‘‘AnyoneBlindorLame
Shall Not Enter the House’: On the Interpretation of Second Samuel
5:8b,’’ Catholic Biblical Quarterly 60 (1998) 218–27. Material from
these articles is reprinted here by permission of the Society of Biblical