Book contents
- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Transcriptions and Translations
- Abbreviations
- Part I Setting the Stage
- 1 Introduction
- 2 What Is Pollution?
- Part II Embodying Pollution through the Life Cycle
- Part III Images, Codes and Discourse
- Works Cited
- Index of Biblical Sources
- Index of Selected Ancient Near Eastern Sources
- Index of Rabbinic and Second Temple Literature Sources
- Subject Index
2 - What Is Pollution?
from Part I - Setting the Stage
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2021
- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Transcriptions and Translations
- Abbreviations
- Part I Setting the Stage
- 1 Introduction
- 2 What Is Pollution?
- Part II Embodying Pollution through the Life Cycle
- Part III Images, Codes and Discourse
- Works Cited
- Index of Biblical Sources
- Index of Selected Ancient Near Eastern Sources
- Index of Rabbinic and Second Temple Literature Sources
- Subject Index
Summary
Certain aspects of our everyday bodily existence – like sex, and excreting waste – are deemed best to conceal from the public view. These functions are relegated to the margins and recesses of household architecture, the relevant body parts are covered and their linguistic signifiers protected by euphemisms (going to the bathroom; sleeping together). The biblical rules of pollution seem to revel in the details of these kinds of experiences, casting a spotlight on these domains, where silence seems more appropriate.
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- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew BibleFrom Embodied Experience to Moral Metaphor, pp. 27 - 56Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021