At Wisdom's Table: How Narrative Shapes the Biblical Food Laws and Their Social Function
The food laws of Lev 11:3-23 and Deut 14:3-20 are among the great enigmas of biblical law. This paper views the food laws as a series of "narrative paradigms" aimed at a high-context society in which information is shared and internalized. This shared social knowledge raises the question o...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Scholar's Press
[2016]
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| In: |
Journal of Biblical literature
Year: 2016, Volume: 135, Issue: 2, Pages: 223-245 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Levitikus 11,3-23
/ Bible. Deuteronomium 14,3-20
/ Food laws
/ Social function
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament XA Law |
| Further subjects: | B
Narratives
B FOOD law & legislation B Phronesis B SOCIAL functions B Jewish Law B Riddles |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The food laws of Lev 11:3-23 and Deut 14:3-20 are among the great enigmas of biblical law. This paper views the food laws as a series of "narrative paradigms" aimed at a high-context society in which information is shared and internalized. This shared social knowledge raises the question of how the common environment of ancient Israel would make the categories intuitively clear. The narrative paradigms make sense because they reflect day-to-day engagement with the environment. The paradigm cases identify certain characteristics of a taxonomic group, which are then negated. The effect is to convey a complex body of knowledge about what can and cannot be eaten in an economical, unambiguous, and practical manner. The laws build on one another, enabling the audience to accumulate knowledge as they progress through the different categories. In this way, the very construction of the categories clean and uncleanand hence the structure and presentation of the laws themselvesis shaped by practical wisdom. This is consistent with self-executing narrative rules elsewhere in biblical law. This reanalysis helps us to understand both the compositional strategy of the food laws and their social function. |
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| ISSN: | 1934-3876 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Biblical literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.15699/jbl.1352.2016.3042 |