What you are about to read is the transcript of a scientific lecture that, due to its excessive length, erratic tone, pervasive belligerence toward the Greeks, and chaotic conclusion, was never broadcast on the Internet. It may be of interest, however, to both physicists and devotees of the Old Testament; scholars of Kabbalah, too, will find food for thought. As a biblical scholar, I have undertaken to annotate the text with a few terminological glosses and citations from Scripture [in brackets, referring to both the Hebrew and the English chapter-and-verse enumeration] and other ancient literature. The speaker’s topic is the familiar matter of Israelite attitudes toward holiness and ritual pollution, on which three standard reference works are Jonathan Klawans, Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism (Oxford University Press, 2000); David P. Wright, “Unclean and Clean(OT),” The Anchor Bible Dictionary (Doubleday,1992), VI.729-741; and the Book of Leviticus.
By William H.C. Propp
University of California, San Diego
March 2013
Please provide your full name. Comments are moderated and may be edited to remove inappropriate content or links.