Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
Eve Levavi Feinstein
Reviews and Awards
"Nuanced, comprehensively researched, wide-ranging and clearly written, this book clarifies and synthesizes many interrelated issues concerning sex, gender, and ritual impurity--what the author calls ritual pollution. Employing a cross-cultural psychological approach while well-grounded in the study of the ancient Near East, this study is important not only for biblical scholars, but for anyone interested in feminism, masculinity, gender, and the broad culture of the biblical world." --Marc Zvi Brettler, author of How to Read the Jewish Bible
"This is a book well worth reading.... Feinstein draws on a broad competence not only in Hebrew Bible but in ritual, history of religions, anthropology, psychology, and cognitive studies of emotion....Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible is a substantial contribution to the field and an important voice in an ongoing conversation about how to understand concepts of impurity/pollution in the ancient world, including the Hebrew Bible and early Judaism."--Review of Biblical Literature
"Within the context of a general discussion of purity and pollution categories in the Hebrew Bible, Feinstein focuses on types of sexual pollution. Her rigorous and full analysis provides considerable clarity about the many obscurities in the system and in the texts she analyzes in detail. A major contribution." --Michael D. Coogan, Editor, The New Oxford Annotated Bible
"Eve Feinstein rightly claims that the concepts of impurity and pollution, while central to biblical thought, have received inadequate treatment in critical biblical scholarship. Her work represents a noteworthy advance, clarifying and refining the understanding of the topic with special attention to the problematic relationship between purity/impurity and sexuality. In her meticulous examination of relevant texts, she rejects simplistic moralizing and psychologizing solutions in favor of a sophisticated analysis that is attuned to the Bible's gender politics and respectful of both chronological development and the ideological diversity of the sources." --Alan Cooper, Elaine Ravich Professor of Jewish Studies and Provost, Jewish Theological Seminary
"This book is notable for its accurate and judicious summaries of mainstream scholar- ship."-- James Watts, Catholic Biblical Assocation
