Ritual Words and Narrative Worlds in the Book of Leviticus [Hardcover]

This book argues that literary features and ritual dynamics within the book of Leviticus enlighten each other. The first two chapters establish that one may read Leviticus as a coherent literary work and define the genre of Leviticus as narrativized ritual, a complex blending of descriptive narrative and prescriptive ritual. In conversation with Catherine Bell, they present several aspects of the text that are ritualized and show how this ritualization implies a negotiation of power relations among participants. The third and fourth chapters examine the first half of Leviticus, both the legal sections in Lev. 1-7 and 11-15 and the narratives in Lev. 8-10 and 16. These sections alternate between establishing the ritual system and exposing gaps and ambiguities in that system.Chapter 5 turns to the second half of Leviticus, traditionally called the Holiness Code. The ritual language found in this section is less formal and precise, mirroring the way in which the concept of holiness is expanded and extended to the whole people. As this material concludes the book, it relativizes and democratizes the strict ritual system contained in the first half.

I. Leviticus as Literature

Literature or History?

Generic Possibilities

Rhetorical Strategies

Leviticus as a Book

Literary Separation

Literary Artistry

The Structure of Leviticus

Leviticus's Two Halves

Narrative Structuring

II. Narrativized Ritual

Ritual Genre

Historical Possibilities

The Ritual World of Leviticus

Ritual and Narrative Polyphony

Ritualization

Reading, Writing, Ritualizing

The Practice of Ritual

Aspects of Ritualization

Ritual and Power

Conclusion

III. Narrating Ritual: Leviticus 1-7 and 11-15

Ritual in Narrative

Characterls"