In this Book
- Blood and Belief: The Circulation of a Symbol between Jews and Christians
- Book
- 2007
- Published by: University of California Press
summary
Blood contains extraordinary symbolic power in both Judaism and Christianity—as the blood of sacrifice, of Jesus, of the Jewish martyrs, of menstruation, and more. Yet, though they share the same literary, cultural, and religious origins, on the question of blood the two religions have followed quite different trajectories. For instance, while Judaism rejects the eating or drinking of blood, Christianity mandates its symbolic consumption as a central sacrament. How did these two traditions, both originating in the Hebrew Bible's cult of blood sacrifices, veer off in such different directions? With his characteristic wit and erudition, David Biale traces the continuing, changing, and often clashing roles of blood as both symbol and substance through the entire sweep of Jewish and Christian history from Biblical times to the present.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Epilogue: Blood and Belief
- pp. 207-214
- Selected Bibliography
- pp. 261-280
- Production Notes
- p. 300
Additional Information
ISBN
9780520934238
Related ISBN(s)
9780520253049
MARC Record
OCLC
182574786
Pages
316
Launched on MUSE
2014-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No