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Abstract

Circumcision appears in Genesis 17 as an infant rite, and mark of the covenant; Genesis 34 and Exod. 4.24-26 are written against a background of an adult rite, associated with marriage and fertility. By means of an attempted literary history of the motif, this study attempts a historical reconstruction of the evolution of the ritual tradition, from common West Semitic marital rite de passage into specifically Jewish infant rite of social integration.

Keywords

Covenant circumcision election identity-markers rites of passage ritual.

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Circumcision and Circumstance: Male Genital Mutilation in Ancient Israel and Ugarit

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