Illuminating Leviticus: A Study of Its Laws and Institutions in the Light of Biblical Narratives - Hardcover

Carmichael, Calum

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801885000 ISBN 13: 9780801885006

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006

Synopsis

The origin of law in the Hebrew Bible has long been the subject of scholarly debate. Until recently, the historico-critical methodologies of the academy have yielded unsatisfactory conclusions concerning the source of these laws which are woven through biblical narratives. In this original and provocative study, Calum Carmichael―a leading scholar of biblical law and rhetoric―suggests that Hebrew law was inspired by the study of the narratives in Genesis through 2 Kings.

Discussing particular laws found in the book of Leviticus―addressing issues such as the Day of Atonement, consumption of meat that still has blood, the Jubilee year, sexual and bodily contamination, and the treatment of slaves―Carmichael links each to a narrative. He contends that biblical laws did not emerge from social imperatives in ancient Israel, but instead from the careful, retrospective study of the nation’s history and identity.

About this title

About the Author:

Calum Carmichael is a professor of comparative literature and an adjunct professor of law at Cornell University.

Review:

"Valuable in challenging us to take seriously the intimate connections between Scriptural narrative and Scriptural law."

(Jane Kanarek Henoch)

"I find many of the links between law and narrative suggested in this book attractive, meticulously argued, and persuasive... Carmichael has offered us a genuine alternative to competing theories about the origin of biblical laws."

(Craig Ho Shofar)

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0801885000
• ISBN 13: 9780801885006
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224