Scribalism and Ritual Innovation
Authors
Publication Date
2018Journal Title
HEBREW BIBLE AND ANCIENT ISRAEL
ISSN
2192-2276
Publisher
Mohr Siebeck
Volume
7
Issue
4
Pages
415-415
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
MacDonald, N. (2018). Scribalism and Ritual Innovation. HEBREW BIBLE AND ANCIENT ISRAEL, 7 (4), 415-415. https://doi.org/10.1628/hebai-2018-0027
Abstract
In Wellhausen’s judgement, it was with the prophet Ezekiel that “the sacred praxis […] became a matter of theory and writing,” rather than a matter of the correct performance of rituals that had been handed down through the generations. With the Jerusalem temple in ruins, the path of transmission came under threat. In the face of the potential loss of priestly lore, “it is easy to understand […] how an exiled priest should have begun to paint the picture of it as he carried it in his memory, and to publish it as a programme for the future restoration of the theocracy.” This pithy account of how ritual came to be first written down amongst the ancient Judahites glosses over a number of complexities. On most assessments, Ezekiel’s programme of the restored theocracy did not correspond to the cultic practice of pre-destruction Judah. Was this the result of Ezekiel’s faulty memory, the programmatic and prophetic nature of the envisaged future cult, the transformation of sacred praxis into theory, or a combination of all three?
Embargo Lift Date
2100-01-01
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1628/hebai-2018-0027
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/293110
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