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Cover of Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo

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Judaism: Torah, Talmud and Tradition

Purity and Danger

An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo

by Mary Douglas

A classic of social anthropology on ideas of purity and pollution across cultures. Its chapter on the abominations of Leviticus proposed that the forbidden animals were those that did not fit the categories of the Israelite classification of the world, a thesis that shaped later study of the dietary laws.

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