Studies in Antiquity & Christianity: Wholly Woman, Holy Blood

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This book takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore the relationship between female blood and concepts of purity and impurity. Renowned scholars analyze blood and purity laws as reflected in biblical literature and the Roman Catholic tradition. Their work spans various texts, including biblical, classical, patristic, medieval, and modern, employing methodologies from historical-critical to postmodern. Kristin De Troyer questions whether blood poses a threat to holiness or signifies a new form of it. Judith Ann Johnson investigates the shedding of blood as a sanctifying rite for heroes. Anne-Marie Korte offers an anthropological perspective on female blood rituals. Kathleen O'Grady examines the woman with a discharge of blood in the context of menstrual prohibitions in the Hebrew Bible. Deborah Ellens presents a provocative interpretation of Leviticus 15. Mayer Gruber looks into Qumran law and halachic texts concerning women and pollution. Kathleen P. Rushton provides a feminist reading of John 16:21 regarding childbirth. Jennifer Schultz discusses the views of doctors, philosophers, and Christian Fathers on menstrual blood. Susan K. Roll surveys patristic and medieval writings on the churching of women post-childbirth, while Grietje Dresen focuses on the churching of new mothers in Roman Catholicism.