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
- Part II Embodying Pollution through the Life Cycle
- Disease
- 3 The “Touch” of Leprosy: Diagnosing Disease between Language and Experience
- 4 The Missing Ritual for Healing Skin Disease
- 5 Diagnosing Sin
- 6 Naturalizing Disease: Pollution as a Causal Theory
- The Soul: From the Table to the Grave
- Mating
- 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
6 - Naturalizing Disease: Pollution as a Causal Theory
from Disease
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
- Part II Embodying Pollution through the Life Cycle
- Disease
- 3 The “Touch” of Leprosy: Diagnosing Disease between Language and Experience
- 4 The Missing Ritual for Healing Skin Disease
- 5 Diagnosing Sin
- 6 Naturalizing Disease: Pollution as a Causal Theory
- The Soul: From the Table to the Grave
- Mating
- 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
The previous chapter argued in detail that the Priestly source represents a deliberate break with conventional ancient Near Eastern views of disease. Before we can explore the broader significance of this break, it is necessary to first address the more fundamental issue of how notions of causation originate both in the psychological development of individuals (ontogeny) and on the scale of cultures. This framework will provide a basis for situating the Priestly views of disease and pollution in comparison to similar discursive developments outside of ancient Israel, providing an opportunity to test the plausibility of the hypothesis proposed in the previous chapters regarding the polemical tendencies in the Priestly source.
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- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew BibleFrom Embodied Experience to Moral Metaphor, pp. 107 - 128Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021