
✨ Featured Offer
Brand New
$135.41
List Price: $59.00
🚚
See all 5 offers from $54.16 FREE standard delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Overview
In the Wilderness is a classic work on the anthropology of the Book of Numbers. Up to now Bible scholars have tended to dismiss Numbers - Wellhausen called it the junk room of the Bible, and most contemporary commentaries feel called upon to say something about its apparent lack of coherence. In this book Mary Douglas argues that Numbers is composed of 12 alternating sections of law and narrative arranged in a ring, with each law and narrative section corresponding to its pair on the other side. Notes from a Hebrew scholar confirm the pattern by identifying objectively the beginnings and endings of law and narrative. On this showing Numbers turns out to be an extremely coherent example of a well-known antique rhetorical system. The meaning of the book comes out very differently according to whether it is read linearly or as written, synoptically. Professor Douglas shows that Numbers is not heavy or obscure but reads like a detective story.WITH REGARD TO LEVITICUS AS LITERATUREThe books of Numbers and Leviticus stand at the centre of the Pentateuch and are revered as the basis of biblical Judaism. In her two books Mary Douglas argues that neither has been read in its own terms. Oxford University Press have brought together Professor Douglas's two ground-breaking works because the process of discovery is continuous, the work on Leviticus builds on the work for Numbers. The second book is the fruit of the first. They each make more sense together than apart.
| ISBN-13 | 9780199245413 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 019924541X |
| Weight | 0.80 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 8.12 x 5.90 x 0.56 In |
| List Price | $59.00 |
| Edition | 2nd Edition |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Published On | 2001-07-19 |
View All Offers
Sort by:
Price
Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
Used, Very Good
Seller details
HPB-Diamond
Dallas, TX, USA
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and ...
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Used, Good
Seller details
HPB-Red
Dallas, TX, USA
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used textbooks may not include companion materials s...
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Used, Good
Seller details
Bonita
Santa Clarita, CA, USA
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
✨ Brand New
Seller details
GridFreed
San Diego, CA, USA
Size: 8x5x0; In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title!
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Brand New
Seller details
Bonita
Santa Clarita, CA, USA
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026