Sin, Impurity, Sacrifice, Atonement: The Priestly Conceptions

The goal of this closely reasoned study is to explain why, in Priestly texts of the Hebrew Bible, the verb _kipper_, traditionally translated 'atone', means the way of dealing both with sin and with impurity-which might seem very different things. Sklar's first key conclusion is that when the context is sin, certain sins also pollute; so 'atonement' may include some element of _purification_. His second conclusion is that, when the context is impurity, and _kipper_ means not 'atone' but 'effect purgation', impurity also _endangers_; so _kipper_ can include some element of _ransoming_. In fact, sin and impurity, while distinct categories in themselves, have this in common: each of them requires both ransoming and purification. It is for this reason that _kipper_ can be used in both settings. This benchmark study concludes with a careful examination of the famous sentence of Leviticus 17.11 that 'blood makes atonement' (_kipper_) and explains how, in the Priestly ideology, blood sacrifice was able to accomplish both ransom and purification.

Author: Jay Sklar
Publisher: Sheffield Phoenix Press Ltd
Published: 05/28/2015
Pages: 226
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.71lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.48d
ISBN13: 9781909697881
ISBN10: 1909697885
BISAC Categories:
- Religion | Judaism | Theology
- Religion | Biblical Studies | General