Circumcision and Jewish Identity : : Case Studies on Ancient Texts and Their Reception / / ed. by Lieve Teugels, Karin Neutel.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus PP Package 2023 Part 2
• MitwirkendeR: Becking, Bob,; Harrocks, Rebecca,; Moorthy, Asha K.,; Neutel, Karin B.,; Nikolsky, Ronit,; Smit, Peter-Ben,; Teugels, Lieve M.,
• HerausgeberIn: Neutel, Karin,; Teugels, Lieve,
• Place / Publishing House: Piscataway, NJ : : Gorgias Press, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Series: Judaism in Context ; 33
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (284 p.)

Male circumcision is one of the oldest and most widespread rituals, it has been practiced for millennia across many parts of the world. Yet this prevalence and long history do not make circumcision self-evident: it has also long been a topic of reflection, discussion, and controversy and continues to be so today. As the cases in this volume show, already in Antiquity, Greeks, Romans, Jews and Christians clashed over male circumcision. Then as now, concerns about identity, ritual, health, masculinity, and sexuality were a factor in these disputes. Very little is known about actual circumcision practices in the ancient world. Apart from depictions in art, the relation of which to daily practice is difficult to ascertain, we have historical access mainly through texts that reveal how the practice was discursively constructed, and that relate circumcision to wider cultural practices and ideas. This book therefore mainly discusses references to circumcision in literary sources, and the way these relate to other known cultural practices and ideas. These sources date from biblical times and Antiquity and their interpretations in medieval Jewish texts and recent scholarship.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- TABLE OF CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION. LIEVE TEUGELS AND KARIN NEUTEL -- 1. A CULTURAL HERITAGE AS BOUNDARY MARKER: CIRCUMCISION IN THE HEBREW BIBLE -- 2. FROM EGYPT TO ISRAEL: EVOLVING PERCEPTIONS OF MALE CIRCUMCISION IN THE GRAECOROMAN ERA -- 3. MISSING FORESKIN IN THE SEPTUAGINT: CIRCUMCISION RELATED METAPHORS LOST IN TRANSLATION -- 4. CIRCUMCISING THE MALE MEMBERS OF THE BODY OF CHRIST: A RITUAL ALL THE MORE SIGNIFICANT DUE TO ITS FAILURE IN PAUL OF TARSUS’ LETTER TO THE GALATIANS -- 5. DEAD MAN WALKING: ON GENTILE IMPURITY AND FELLOWSHIP WITH THE UNCIRCUMCISED IN ACTS 10–11 -- 6. PIGS IN A BLANKET?: ON PETER’S VISION, PURITY, AND FELLOWSHIP WITH THE UNCIRCUMCISED IN ACTS -- 7. CIRCUMCISION AND SEXUALITY IN THE JEWISH TRADITION: THE BIBLE, ITS READERS, AND ITS READERS’ READERS -- 8. THE MYSTERY OF ABRAHAM’S CIRCUMCISION: THE CIRCUMCISED GOD ACCORDING TO MIDRASH TANCHUMA AND RELATED TEXTS -- INDEX OF REFERENCES