Previous attempts to synthesise biblical texts’ usage of twʿbh have associated the language with cultic concerns in Deuteronomy and Ezekiel or with ethical concerns in Proverbs. The reconciliation of these interests, especially in conjunction with a number of additional outlier texts, has proved problematic. This investigation suggests that the texts which use twʿbh and tʿb exhibit a persistent focus on issues of identity, on the transgression of boundaries and on perceptions of the compatibility and incompatibility of fundamental social, theological and ideological categories. This understanding goes some way towards providing an explanation of the diverse appearances of these terms across the biblical texts.
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Gerstenberger, ‘תעב’, p. 1431; cf. L’Hour, ‘Les interdits toʿeba’, p. 503.
S. Olyan, ‘ “And with a Male You Shall Note Lie the Lying Down of a Woman”: On the Meaning and Significance of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13’, Journal of the History of Sexuality 5 (1994), p. 180, n. 3.
Nussbaum, Hiding From Humanity, p. 83; cf. W.I. Miller, The Anatomy of Disgust (Cambridge, Mass., 1997).
See G. Emberling, ‘Ethnicity in Complex Societies: Archaeological Perspectives’, Journal of Archaeological Research 5 (1997), p. 318; in the biblical context also P. Altmann, Festive Meals in Ancient Israel: Deuteronomy’s Identity Politics in Their Ancient Near Eastern Context (bzaw 424; Berlin, 2011), pp. 42-66, with further references.
Milgrom, Leviticus 17-22, p. 1520; cf. P.J. Budd, Leviticus (ncb; Grand Rapids, Mich., 1996), pp. 260-263; cf. E. Gerstenberger, Leviticus: A Commentary (otl; Louisville, Ky., 1996), pp. 255-257. On the particularly frequent appearance of sexual norms in the delineation of ethnic identities, see Kelly, Yuck!, p. 119.
Barth, ‘Introduction’, 14. On the practical difficulty of identifying group boundary markers see Emberling and Yoffee, ‘Thinking about Ethnicity’; G. Emberling, ‘Ethnicity in Complex Societies: Archaeological Perspectives’, Journal of Archaeological Research 5 (1997), pp. 294-344; M. Hegmon, ‘Technology, Style, and Social Practices: Archaeological Approaches’, The Archaeology of Social Boundaries (ed. M.T. Stark; London, Smithsonian Institute, 1998), pp. 264-279; K.A. Kamp and N. Yoffee, ‘Ethnicity in Ancient Western Asia: Archaeological Assessments and Ethnoarchaeological Prospectives’, basor 237 (1980), pp. 85-104; I. Hodder, Symbols in Action: Ethnoarchaeological Studies of Material Culture (New Studies in Archaeology; Cambridge, 1982), p. 187; Keyes, ‘The Dialectics of Ethnic Change’.
Southwood, Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis, pp. 137-138.
L’Hour, ‘Les interdits toʿeba’, p. 503; O. Bächli, Israel und die Völker: Eine Studie zum Deuteronomium (atant 41; Zürich, 1962), pp. 53-55; Humbert, ‘Le substantif toʿēbā’, pp. 222-226.
See, among many others, Hallo, ‘Biblical Abominations’, pp. 37-38; J.B. Miller, The Ethics of Deuteronomy: An Exegetical and Theological Study of the Book of Deuteronomy (D.Phil. diss., University of Oxford, 1995); M. Varšo, ‘Abomination in the Legal Code of Deuteronomy: Can an Abomination Motivate?’, zabr 13 (2007), pp. 249-260; and the numerous commentary remarks on these passages. In light of recent scholarship on the relationship of Israelites to the land and its inhabitants, this clearly requires more nuanced reconsideration; for a more extensive discussion of each of these texts, see Crouch, The Making of Israel, pp. 146-164, 174-176.
Bächli, Israel und die Völker, p. 53; cf. Gerstenberger, ‘תעב’, p. 1430.
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Previous attempts to synthesise biblical texts’ usage of twʿbh have associated the language with cultic concerns in Deuteronomy and Ezekiel or with ethical concerns in Proverbs. The reconciliation of these interests, especially in conjunction with a number of additional outlier texts, has proved problematic. This investigation suggests that the texts which use twʿbh and tʿb exhibit a persistent focus on issues of identity, on the transgression of boundaries and on perceptions of the compatibility and incompatibility of fundamental social, theological and ideological categories. This understanding goes some way towards providing an explanation of the diverse appearances of these terms across the biblical texts.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 397 | 118 | 63 |
Full Text Views | 230 | 6 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 128 | 8 | 0 |