Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus: From Sacrifice to Scripture - Hardcover

Watts, James W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052187193X ISBN 13: 9780521871938

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2007

Synopsis

Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus uses rhetorical analysis to expose the motives behind the writing of the central book of the Torah/Pentateuch and its persuasive function in ancient Judaism. Rhetorical analysis of Leviticus has implications not only for the form and contents of that book, but also for understanding the later history of the rhetoric of priesthood, of sacrifice, and especially of scripture.

About this title

Book Description:

This book grounds its rhetorical approach in a methodological critique of current trends in the study of Leviticus, then works systematically through Leviticus 1-16 to show the persuasive shaping of the text. However, it goes beyond Leviticus to show the unexpected impact of the book's ritual rhetoric about priests and sacrifice in later religious traditions.

About the Author:

James W. Watts is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. He is the author of Psalm and Story: Inset Hymns in Hebrew Narratives (1992), Reading Law: the Rhetorical Shaping of the Pentateuch (1999) and editor of Persia and Torah: The Theory of the Imperial Authorization of the Pentateuch (2001).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 052187193X
• ISBN 13: 9780521871938
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 278