Cosmologies of Pure Realms and the Rhetoric of Pollution

Yohan Yoo (u. a.)

ISBN 10: 0367722771 / ISBN 13: 9780367722777

Published by Routledge, 2023

About this Item

Cosmologies of Pure Realms and the Rhetoric of Pollution | Yohan Yoo (u. a.) | Taschenbuch | Einband - flex.(Paperback) | Englisch | 2023 | Routledge | EAN 9780367722777 | Verantwortliche Person für die EU: Libri GmbH, Europaallee 1, 36244 Bad Hersfeld, gpsr[at]libri[dot]de | Anbieter: preigu.

Seller Inventory # 126914312

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Cosmologies of Pure Realms and the Rhetoric of Pollution
• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0367722771
• ISBN 13: 9780367722777
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 156H x 10D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 156 millimeters height by 10 millimeters depth
• Weight: 281 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Bücher

About this title

Synopsis

This collaboration between two scholars from different fields of religious studies draws on three comparative data sets to develop a new theory of purity and pollution in religion, arguing that a culture’s beliefs about cosmological realms shapes its pollution ideas and its purification practices.

The authors of this study refine Mary Douglas’ foundational theory of pollution as "matter out of place," using a comparative approach to make the case that a culture’s cosmology designates which materials in which places constitute pollution. By bringing together a historical comparison of Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions, an ethnographic study of indigenous shamanism on Jeju Island, Korea, and the reception history of biblical rhetoric about pollution in Jewish and Christian cultures, the authors show that a cosmological account of purity works effectively across multiple disparate religious and cultural contexts. They conclude that cosmologies reinforce fears of pollution, and also that embodied experiences of purification help generate cosmological ideas.

Providing an innovative insight into a key topic of ritual studies, this book will be of vital interest to scholars and graduate students in religion, biblical studies, and anthropology.

About the Author

Yohan Yoo is Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies in the College of Humanities at Seoul National University, Korea.

James W. Watts is Professor in the Department of Religion of the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University, USA.