The Biblical Dietary Laws and the Concept of Holiness

Abstract

One important feature of the biblical system of impurity into which the dietary law has been incorporated is that one is not in general prohibited from contracting impurity. Only failure to purify oneself as required, and the potential threat which that failure poses to the sanctuary, is subject to penalty. It was the priest's special concern to see to it that the conditions for holiness were observed, first of all in the sanctuary, but also among the people at large. He was to teach the people what constitute ritual uncleanness, and how it was to be eliminated. The priests took the notion of Israel's calling a step further, when they created the dietary law. Mary Douglas's explanation of the dietary law was based on a comprehensive and appealing concept of boundary definition. Keywords: biblical system; dietary law; Mary Douglas

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