Ritual Violence in the Hebrew Bible: New Perspectives
Saul M. Olyan
Abstract
Although the relationship of the Hebrew Bible and violence has been of interest to scholars in recent years, ritual violence in its various manifestations has been underexplored, as has the theoretical dimension of ritual violence. This volume brings into relief the full range of violent rites represented in the Hebrew Bible, many rarely, if ever, considered. It explores what acts of ritual violence might accomplish sociopolitically in their particular settings and the ways in which engagement with theory from a variety of disciplines can contribute to our understanding of ritual violence as a ... More
Although the relationship of the Hebrew Bible and violence has been of interest to scholars in recent years, ritual violence in its various manifestations has been underexplored, as has the theoretical dimension of ritual violence. This volume brings into relief the full range of violent rites represented in the Hebrew Bible, many rarely, if ever, considered. It explores what acts of ritual violence might accomplish sociopolitically in their particular settings and the ways in which engagement with theory from a variety of disciplines can contribute to our understanding of ritual violence as a phenomenon. The volume consists of an introduction and eight chapters. Topics include cognitive perspectives on iconoclasm, the instrumental dimensions of ritual violence against corpses, the ritual killing of cities (“urbicide”), royal rites of military loyalty, the ends accomplished by political violence in David’s story, comparison of the Rwanda genocide and material dimensions of the biblical ḥērem, and the exchange of women among men and its violent dimensions.
Keywords:
rites,
ritual violence,
Hebrew Bible,
mutilation,
genocide,
iconoclasm,
ban,
urbicide,
violence theory,
shame
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780190249588 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2015 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190249588.001.0001 |
