Religions Reviewed

A final intra-biblical comparison is the relationship of the sacrificial system of the Priestly tradition as exemplified in Leviticus, to the moral injunctions of the Prophetic tradition epitomized by Isaiah.[1] The literary analyses of Douglas and Eilberg-Schwartz both use interpretive modes based on Leviticus 11, in order to demonstrate a fundamental continuity between the Priestly and Prophetic ethics, where readers commonly perceive an opposition.[2] By making ritual status an abstracted expression of social dynamics, these interpretations can support changes in the ritual agenda that reflect social changes, while the correlative value system remains intact.

It is evident that the new anthropological and rhetorical analyses of Leviticus have managed to contribute new perspectives on the significance of the animal proscriptions in chapter 11. Comparison of that passage to other biblical texts becomes both a further challenge and a further opportunity to understand the purity code of Leviticus in relation to ancient Hebrew religion as a whole. 

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[1] Douglas, “Forbidden Animals,” pp. 1-4.

[2] Douglas, “Forbidden Animals,” p. 23; Eilberg-Schwartz, “Animal Metaphors,” pp. 18-19.