Building Walls: Community Boundaries in Second Temple Judaism

Seminary Room N135

This presentation questions how the language of purity was used to build boundaries in the Israelite community in New Testament times. By investigating the language of purity and the agents of contamination, especially in the Dead Sea Scrolls, we can better understand how ancient Israelites (including early Christians) used the rituals of the sanctuary to articulate parameters of who should be in or out of a respective community.