The Body in Biblical, Christian and Jewish Texts

by Taylor, Joan E.; Grabbe, Lester L.

• ISBN13: 9780567666079
• ISBN10: 0567666077
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-12-17
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark

Summary

The body is an entity on which religious ideology is printed. Thus it is frequently a subject of interest, anxiety, prescription and regulation in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, as well as in early Christian and Jewish writings. Issues such as the body's age, purity, sickness, ability, gender, sexual actions, marking, clothing, modesty or placement can revolve around what the body is and is not supposed to be or do.

The Body in Biblical, Christian and Jewish Texts comprises a range of inter-disciplinary and creative explorations of the body as it is described and defined in religious literature, with chapters largely written by new scholars with fresh perspectives. This is a subject with wide and important repercussions in diverse cultural contexts today.

Author Biography

Joan E. Taylor is the prize-winning author of Christians and the Holy Places, and a leading authority on the Jewish world of Jesus, including women within that world. She is Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King's College London, UK.

Table of Contents

Contents
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors
Introduction - Joan E. Taylor, King's College London, UK
1: The Body Inscribed: A Priestly Initiative - Sandra Jacobs, King's College London, UK
2: Queering the Body: Un-desiring Sex in Leviticus - Steffan Mathias, King's College London, UK
3. Ritualized Bodies in the Valley of Dry Bones (Ezek 37.1-14) - Casey Strine, University of Sheffield, UK
4. 'Two by two': The Ark-etypal Language of Mark's Apostolic Pairings - Joan Taylor, King's College London, UK
5. Jesus' Gentile healings: The Absence of Physical Contact and the Requirement of Faith - Rebecca Harrocks, King's College London, UK
6. 'This is my Body': Jewish Blessing or Thyestean Banquet? - Katie Turner, King's College London, UK
7. How are the Dead Raised? The Resurrection of the Dead as a Bodily Phenomenon in Second Temple Jewish Writings - Daniel Hayter, King's College London, UK
8. Flesh for Franken-whore: Reading Babylon's Body in Revelation 17 - Michelle Fletcher, King's College London, UK
9. Can a Body Change? Josephus' Attitude to Circumcision and Conversion - Davina Grojnowski, King's College London, UK
10. The Acts of Paul and Thecla: Violating the Inviolate Body - Thecla Uncut - Rosie Ratcliffe, King's College London, UK
11. The Fire and the Flesh: Self-Destruction of the Male Rabbinic Body - Laliv Clenman, King's College London, UK
Bibliography
Index