Purity, Community, and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (Oxford Studies in the Abrahamic Religions)

Synopsis

Part I. Purity In Its Contexts. Introducing Purity Discourses -- Purity And Defilement In The Greco-roman East And In Judaism -- Part Ii. Breaking With The Past. Early Christian Attitudes Towards Dietary Impurity -- Early Christian Attitudes Towards Death Defilement -- Part Iii. Roots Of A New Paradigm: The First Two Centuries. Baptism As Purification In Early Christian Texts -- The Pure Community, The Holy Sacrifice, And The Defilement Of Sin -- Sexual Defilement In Early Christian Texts -- Part Iv. New Configurations: Purity, Body, And Community In The Third Century. Dietary And Sexual Purity In Jewish-christian Communities -- The Origenist Synthesis -- General Conclusions. Moshe Blidstein. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 237-274) And Indexes.