Matthew Thiessen - Jesus and the Forces of Death: The Gospels Portrayal of Ritual Impurity Within First-Century Judaism

B ack when I should have been writing my doctoral dissertation on circumcision, I became obsessed with ritual purity systems. Apart from the inevitable compulsion of a doctoral student to do anything but write ones dissertation, I blame Jacob Milgrom. Milgroms extensive writings on the topics of Leviticus, sacrifice, and Jewish ritual purity threatened to derail any progress I made toward completing my degree. In the course of reading everything of his that I could get my hands on, I suddenly realized that much of what he and others had discovered in priestly literature provided me with a new lens through which to read the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. I knew then that I would write this book.

Fortunately, my responsible self returned, and I refocused enough to finish my dissertation. Unfortunately for this book, I was convinced that my dissertation required me to write another book before I could turn my attention to the topic of ritual purity. Consequently, what you hold in your hands is a book that I would have liked to have written ten years ago but am nevertheless happy to finally get off my mind and onto paper.

Given the long time between conceiving the idea for this book and actually getting around to writing it, many of my debts to others are long forgotten, erased not, I hope, by ingratitude but by a faulty memory. Nonetheless, I am thankful to mentors, colleagues, and students at Duke University, the College of Emmanuel and St. Chad, Saint Louis University, and McMaster University for many stimulating conversations about various aspects of this book. Thanks especially to Paula Fredriksen and Cecilia Wassen for input at a critical juncture in the writing of this project. Defective as my memory may be, I cannot fail to remember my family: my partner, Jennifer, and my two children, Solomon and Maggie. They bring me such richness and joy by lovingly refusing to let me work as much as I erroneously think I would like to work.

Finally, I am immeasurably grateful to my parents, Peter and Agnes Thiessen. I simply cannot remember a day in my childhood when my parents did not work diligently to instill in me the belief that one could find life in the texts that are the focus of this book. For this reason, I dedicate this book to them.