Wholly Woman, Holy Blood : A Feminist Critique of Purity and Impurity

Contributors vii Preface ix Abbreviations xiii The Semantics of Taboo: Menstrual Prohibitions in the Hebrew Bible 1(28) Kathleen O'Grady Menstrual Impurity and Innovation in Leviticus 15 29(16) Deborah Ellens Blood: A Threat to Holiness or toward (Another) Holiness? 45(20) Kristin De Troyer Purity and Impurity in Halakic Sources and Qumran Law 65(12) Mayer I. Gruber The Woman in Childbirth of John 16:21: A Feminist Reading in (Pro)creative Boundary Crossing 77(20) Kathleen P. Rushton Doctors, Philosophers, and Christian Fathers on Menstrual Blood 97(20) Jennifer Schultz The Old Rite of the Churching of Women after Childbirth 117(26) Susan K. Roll The Better Blood: On Sacrifice and the Churching of New Mothers in the Roman Catholic Tradition 143(22) Grietje Dresen Female Blood Rituals: Cultural-Anthropological Findings and Feminist-Theological Reflections 165(24) Anne-Marie Korte Shedding Blood: The Sanctifying Rite of Heroes 189(34) Judith Ann Johnson Bibliography 223(22) Index 245