Social Theory and the Study of Israelite Religion: Essays in Retrospect and Prospect

by Saul M. Olyan (Editor)

Overview

This volume assesses past, theoretically engaged work on Israelite religion and presents new approaches to particular problems and larger interpretive and methodological questions. It gathers previously unpublished research by senior and mid-career scholars well known for their contributions in the area of social theory and the study of Israelite religion and by junior scholars whose writing is just beginning to have a serious impact on the field. The volume begins with a critical introduction by the editor. Topics of interest to the contributors include gender, violence, social change, the festivals, the dynamics of shame and honor, and the relationship of text to ritual. The contributors engage theory from social and cultural anthropology, sociology, post-colonial studies, and ritual studies. Theoretical models are evaluated in light of the primary data, and some authors modify or adapt theory to increase its utility for biblical studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789004230767
Publisher:	Brill Academic Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/15/2012
Series:	SBL - Resources for Biblical Study , #71
Pages:	219
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Saul M. Olyan is Samuel Ungerleider Jr. Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University. He is the author most recently of Social Inequality in the World of the Text: The Significance of Ritual and Social Distinctions in the Hebrew Bible (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht), Disability in the Hebrew Bible: Interpreting Mental and Physical Differences (Cambridge University Press), and Biblical Mourning: Ritual and Social Dimensions (Oxford University Press).

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