Wholly Woman, Holy Blood

Book excerpt: This is the first book to take a broad interdisciplinary approach to the relationship between female blood and issues of purity and impurity. Well-known women scholars examine blood and purity laws, especially as those laws have been passed down in the biblical literature and in the Roman Catholic tradition. Theses scholars work with different texts, ranging across the biblical, classical, patristic, medieval, and modern, with approaches varying from the historical critical to postmodern. Kristin De Troyer (Claremont) asks whether blood is a threat to holiness or a step toward another holiness. Judith Ann Johnson (Claremont) explores the shedding of blood as the sanctifying rite of heroes. Anne-Marie Korte (The Netherlands) takes an anthropological look at female blood rituals. Kathleen O'Grady (Toronto) analyzes the woman with a discharge of blood in light of menstrual prohibitions in the Hebrew Bible. Deborah Ellens (Claremont) offers a challenging reading of Leviticus 15. Mayer Gruber (Beer Sheva, Israel) examines Qumran law and halachic sources dealing with women and pollution. Kathleen P. Rushton (Brisbane, Australia) offers a feminist reading of the story of the woman in childbirth in John 16:21. Jennifer Schultz (Toronto, Canada) explores doctors, philosophers, and the Christian Fathers on menstrual blood. Susan K. Roll Buffalo, New York) surveys patristic and medieval texts dealing with the churching of women after childbirth. Grietje Dresen (The Netherlands) examines the churching of new mothers in the Roman Catholic tradition. Kristin De Troyer is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. She is the author of The End of the Alpha-Text of Esther: Translation Techniques and Narrative Techniques in MT-LXX 8:1-17-AT 7, 14-4. Judith A. Herbert is a Ph.D. student at Claremont School of Theology. Judith Ann Johnson is an independent research scholar working with Claremont Graduate University's Women's Studies in Religion and University of Global Ministries. Anne-Marie Korte is lives in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and is the editor of Women and Miracle Stories: Multidisciplinary Explanation.