The Purity Texts (Companion to the Qumran Scrolls S.) - Tapa dura

"'Dr. Hannah Harrington, a talented exponent of the Milgrom school of fundamental research into biblical ritual, presents a most lucid exposition of the intricacies of Qumran and rabbinic purity laws. In the Second Temple period these laws emerged for a time as a pivotal expression of religious piety.' Joseph M. Baumgarten, Professor Emeritus, Baltimore Hebrew University"

The Purity Texts gathers the data of the Dead Sea Scrolls on ritual purity and analyzes it systematically as part of a coherent ideology. After a general introduction and an examination of individual texts for their contribution to the subject of purity, there is a chapter devoted to each of the impurities discussed in the Scrolls: death, leprosy, bodily discharges and outsiders. In each of these chapters, emphasis is placed on the great congruence between the Qumran texts on the subject of purity and the similarities and differences between these texts and other sources of ancient Judaism. The contributors to the Companion to the Qumran Scrolls series take account of all relevant and recently published texts and provide extensive bibliographies. The books in the series are authoritatively written in accessible language and are ideal for students and non-specialist scholars.