Biblical mourning : ritual and social dimensions /

Building and improving on Gary Anderson's A Time to Mourn, a Time to Dance (1991), Olyan (Brown Univ.) approaches mourning as the inverse of rejoicing, understood as both cultic activity and social norm. Mourning sets people apart, although not in total isolation, for they are joined by comforters. Though Olyan's book connects Israelite practices with theories of "social death" advanced by Hertz and more recent scholars, Olyan's use of social anthropology never overwhelms the evidence or undermines the particularities of context. Significantly, prototypical mourning of the dead is extended to other settings, as similar behaviors are employed for penitence and petition, and in response to calamity and affliction with skin disease. Olyan develops a typology of mourning behaviors, systematically exploring the commonalities and distinctions between types. A range of ritual gestures (weeping, wailing, donning the proverbial "sackcloth and ashes," tearing garments, sitting or rolling upon the ground, etc.) symbolize self-debasement; yet by considering questions of location, duration, and purity, Olyan demonstrates how symbolic debasement operates differently in these different settings. This succinct yet highly incisive monograph, which will be attractive to specialists and nonspecialists alike, will be useful for all collections of biblical or ritual studies. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers. G. Spinner Central Michigan University