Bibliography
| Title: A tradition historical study of the day of atonement Type: Generic Year: 1991 Abstract: "The aim of this work is to further an understanding of the soteriological significance of the Christ event through a traditio-historical study of Yom Kippur. It tries to answer two questions: (1) how did the NT authors use Yom Kippur to explain the salvific import of the cross? (2) was this a valid interpretation of the OT concept of atonement? The first chapter examines the Yom Kippur ritual in the Book of Leviticus to discover its sources, dating, and significance. The feast did not emerge until postexilic times. The purpose of the feast was purgation: the blood of the purification offering served as a ritual detergent to cleanse the holy of holies, tent, and altar of holocaust, while the scapegoat ritual eliminated this impurity from the camp itself. Since Yahweh only dwells in a holy place, this annual Day of Purgation insured his continued presence. The second chapter surveys the understanding of Yom Kippur in the Qumran literature, Jubilees, the LXX, Philo, and Josephus. Some of these texts suggest a different origin for the feast as well as changes in the ritual. In a few texts the meaning of the feast changes from a purification of the temple to a purification of the sinner. With this understanding of Yom Kippur as background, the third chapter investigates how Yom Kippur is used in the NT. This chapter establishes that Yom Kippur early served as an image or metaphor to interpret the meaning of the cross in three different traditions: (1) the pre-Pauline and Pauline (Rom 3:21-26); (2) the Johannine (1 John 2:2; 4:10); and (3) the Epistle to the Hebrews. More precisely, it was the Yom Kippur purification offering and its concomitant blood rite that was used in these early traditions to explain how Christ's death could take away sin. This dissertation concludes that Yom Kippur did serve as a vehicle to understand and interpret the salvific meaning of the cross. It is further suggested that this was a valid interpretation or reinterpretation since it is one that occurred in an analogous way within Judaism itself." Keywords: Theology of Ancient Judaism and early Christianity |