Leviticus

S. Tamar Kamionkowski is professor of biblical studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, where she served as the vice president for Academic Affairs for almost a decade. She holds a BA from Oberlin College, an MTS from Harvard Divinity School, and a PhD from Brandeis University. Kamionkowski is the author of Gender Reversal and Cosmic Chaos: Studies in the Book of Ezekiel (Sheffield Academic, 2003) and co-editor of Bodies, Embodiment and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures (T&T Clark, 2010). She serves as co-chair of the SBL’s Jewish Interpretation of the Bible session.Barbara E. Reid, general editor of the Wisdom Commentary series, is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies, and president emerita of Catholic Theological Union (the first woman who held the position). She has been a member of the CTU faculty since 1988 and also served as vice president and academic dean from 2009 to 2018. She holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America and was president of the Catholic Biblical Association in 2014–2015. Her most recent publications are Luke 1–9 and Luke 10–24, co-authored with Shelly Matthews (WCS 43A, 43B; Liturgical Press, 2021); and At the Table of Holy Wisdom: Global Hungers and Feminist Biblical Interpretation (Paulist, 2023).

"Kamionkowski offers a highly readable exploration of the book's complex and multi-faceted vision of what it means to live as YHVH's holy people. Scholarly without being prohibitively technical, wide-ranging, and punctuated with fascinating sidebar vignettes that supplement and illustrate the main lines of comment from a variety of perspectives, this insightful and creative treatment well deserves its place in a series that promotes the values of wisdom and inclusivity in biblical exegesis. Leviticus has frequently labored under the shadow of oppressively hierarchical and negatively ritualistic readings. Kamionkowski shows how often it is possible to see this admittedly dense and sometimes obscure book in a positive and egalitarian light. Her work is a gift to all those who want to see how Leviticus continues to resonate powerfully for the good in a context very different from that of its original creation."Deborah Rooke, Regent's Park College, University of Oxford

• ContentsList of AbbreviationsList of Contributors xForeword “Tell It on the Mountain”—or, “And You Shall Tell Your Daughter [as Well]” Athalya Brenner-IdanEditor’s Introduction to Wisdom Commentary: “She Is a Breath of the Power of God” (Wis 7:25) Barbara E. Reid, OPAcknowledgmentsAuthor’s Introduction: Reading Leviticus with a Feminist Lens Leviticus 1:1–3:17 Offerings, Offerers, and Considerations of Gender Leviticus 4:1–6:7 Something New: Purification and Guilt Leviticus 6:8–7:38 Another Perspective on Offerings, or What’s In It for the Priests? Leviticus 8:1–10:20 Coming Into and Managing Power Leviticus 11:1-47 If You Must Eat Meat, Then . . . Leviticus 12:1–15:33 Bodies and Access to the Holy Leviticus 16:1-34 Purifying the Sancta: “It Takes a Village” Leviticus 17:1-16 A Bloody Mess Leviticus 18:1–20:27 From Ritual Impurity to Ethical Transgressions Leviticus 21:1–22:33 Protecting Priestly Privilege Leviticus 23:1–25:55 Sacred Time, Space, Speech, and Land Leviticus 26:1-46 Eco-Friendly Blessings and Curses of Chaos Leviticus 27:1-34 How Much Is a Woman Really Worth? PostscriptWorks CitedIndex of Scripture References and Other Ancient WritingsIndex of Subjects