How did the Persian period shape Old Testament language and thought? Alexandra Jacobsen shows how an editorial layer reworked the early Holiness Code (Lev 17-26) and called for integrating "foreigners." She also offers a new view of Pentateuchal formation and post-exilic self-understanding.

How did the Persian period shape the language and thought of the Old Testament? Alexandra Jacobsen offers a fresh perspective on the origin, structure, and intention of the Holiness Legislation in Lev 17-26 and its reworking in the context of the post-exilic and Persian periods. She investigates how this legal corpus is composed literarily, which redactional developments it underwent, and how its innovative theological accents - especially with regard to the relationship between natives and foreigners - are to be situated historically. Her central thesis is the literary differentiation of two clearly discernible layers within the texts attributed to the so-called "Holiness School": an older foundational layer and a later, extensive "redaction of the foreigner," which articulates a new integrative ethic. By combining historical and literary arguments, the author contributes to the current discussion on the formation of the Pentateuch and presents a model that is able to explain the diversity of the so-called Holiness texts with greater precision than before.

Autorentext
Born 1991; 2025 PhD at the CvO University in Oldenburg; high School teacher in Lower Saxony.

Inhalt

Einleitung
1.1 Überblick über die Forschungsgeschichte des Heiligkeitsgesetzes
1.2 Ausgangspunkt und Ziel dieser Untersuchung
1.3 Aufbau der vorliegenden Untersuchung

Die Texte des Heiligkeitsgesetzes Lev 17-26
2.1 Die Opferordnung und das Blutgenussverbot in Lev 17
2.2 Die Vermischungsverbote in Lev 18
2.3 Die Sozialordnungen in Lev 19
2.4 Das Verbot der Fremdgötterverehrung in Lev 20
2.5 Die Priesterordnungen in Lev 21-22
2.6 Die Festordnungen in Lev 23
2.7 Die Talionsbestimmungen in Lev 24
2.8 Das Sabbat- und Jobeljahr in Lev 25
2.9 Verheißung und Drohung in Lev 26
2.10 Zusammenfassung

Die Fremdenredaktion des Heiligkeitsgesetzes und die sogenannte Heiligkeitsschule
3.1 Die Beschneidungsordnung in Gen 17
3.2 Der Landerwerb in Gen 23
3.3 Die Passahverordnung in Ex 12
3.4 Der Versöhnungstag in Lev 16
3.5 Die Passahordnung in Num 9
3.6 Gemischte Bestimmungen in Num 15
3.7 Zusammenfassung

Die Intention des Fremdenredaktors
4.1 Die Abgrenzung von den Fremden in der Grundschicht des Heiligkeitsgesetzes
4.2 Der Fremde im Kult
4.3 Der Fremde in Sozial- und Wirtschaftsvorschriften
4.4 Fazit: Der Fremde als Teil des Volkes
Fazit und Ausblick