Abstract
In this article I analyze Van Gennep’s understanding of purity, impurity, and purification and its relationship with ancient Christian texts discussing these subjects. Through this comparison, I show how modern and ancient theories of ritual can illuminate each other, and more specifically, how purification was a problematic and ambivalent concept for both ancient Christian writers and for Van Gennep, making it a fruitful one for investigating the thought of both.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 338-347 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Classical Sociology |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Nov 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2018.
Keywords
- Arthur Van Gennep
- defilement
- process
- purity
- ritual
- transformation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science