Initiation and the Ritual Purification from Sin: Between Qumran and the Apostolic Tradition
Second Temple Judaism witnessed the rise of a new approach to sin impurity. While in the Hebrew Bible sin impurity was associated with improper actions, and there was no formula to dissipate it, this form of impurity underwent a process of reification during the Second Temple period and was conseque...
| Published in: | Dead Sea discoveries |
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| Subtitles: | Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity |
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2016
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| In: |
Dead Sea discoveries
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Dead Sea scrolls, Qumran Scrolls
/ Hippolytus, Romanus -235, Traditio apostolica
/ Purity
/ Initiation
/ Purification ritual
/ Baptism
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| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion HD Early Judaism KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NBE Anthropology NBP Sacramentology; sacraments |
| Further subjects: | B
Moral Impurity
Ritual Impurity
Community Rule
Damascus Covenant
Church Order
Exorcism
Baptism
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Second Temple Judaism witnessed the rise of a new approach to sin impurity. While in the Hebrew Bible sin impurity was associated with improper actions, and there was no formula to dissipate it, this form of impurity underwent a process of reification during the Second Temple period and was consequently identified with specific objects and people, such as idols, gentiles and “outsiders” in general. Consequently, the distinction between moral and ritual impurity was blurred, and practices for the disposal of bodily impurity were gradually applied to carriers of sin impurity. Arguably, both Qumran sectarians and Christians shared this Second Temple tendency, and it shaped their common ritual language. In this article, I examine the gradual development of initiation as a locus of purification from sin impurity in various Qumran texts and in the Christian Apostolic Tradition. The two corpora share the challenge of expelling the impure presence of sin through concrete ritual patterns of bodily purification. Although they seem to differ in their choice of ritual resources, in both cases the principles of gradual bodily purification merge with the language of exorcism to create a separate purification procedure in addition to the initial rite of initiation. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5179 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Dead Sea discoveries
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685179-12341409 |