Table of Contents
Abbreviations
Introduction
Saul M. Olyan
Social Th eory and the Study of Israelite Religion: A Retrospective on the Past Forty Years of Research
Robert R. Wilson
Cult Centralization, the Erosion of Kin-Based Communities, and the Implications for Women’s Religious Practice
Susan Ackerman
The Levites and Sociocultural Change in Ancient Judah: Insights from Gerhard Lenski’s Social Th eory
Stephen L. Cook
Away from Ritual: Th e Prophetic Critique
Ronald Hendel
“They Have Become Women”: Judean Diaspora and Postcolonial Th eories of Gender and Migration
T. M. Lemos
Text Production and Destruction in Ancient Israel: Ritual and Political Dimensions
Nathaniel B. Levtow
The Function of Feasts: An Anthropological Perspective on Israelite Religious Festivals
Carol Meyers
Theorizing Violence in Biblical Ritual Contexts: The Case of Mourning Rites
Saul M. Olyan
Th eories Regarding Witchcraft Accusations and the Hebrew Bible
Rüdiger Schmitt
Ritual Th eory, Ritual Texts, and the Priestly-Holiness Writings of the Pentateuch
David P. Wright
Contributors