Date of Award

6-1-2015

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Alison Schofield, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Gregory Robbins

Keywords

Moses, Hebrew bible, Liminality

Abstract

Marked by two significant water crossings, the Hebrew Bible establishes the wilderness period in the Pentateuch as a liminal period marking rites of passage for the Israelites. Using a narrative critical approach and an anthropological understanding of liminality, this paper shows that Moses was depicted with an abundance of liminal characteristics and these made him the ultimate transitional tool for God to use in the maturation rites of his people. Further, known Essene beliefs and the Dead Sea Scrolls, the texts of the religious community that inhabited the site of Qumran in the latter half of the second temple period, support this reading of a liminal Moses. By reentering liminal space and placing great importance on ritual purity, the inhabitants of Qumran sought once again to produce a liminal period to prepare for the imminent arrival of a cosmic battle and establishment of a new world age and therefore Moses was the perfect liminal figure with whom they associated.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

David J. Krouwer

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

88 p.

Discipline

Religion

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