Frank H. Gorman Jr.

In the book the Ideology of Ritual, Frank Gorman sets out a description and theory regarding the ancient temple and the priests that worked there. In the book he sets out the specifics of the temple life and tags them with the what is known to many as text P or the priestly text.

My major interest in this book was to read a discussion on space and mainly the theology of Holy Space. Ideology of Ritual certainly discussed the priestly text and its use of Holy Space in and among the temple and what that meant as a theology and the way the ancient Israelites used this.

This is not a book for the easy reader and has language that is prohibitive unless you have some previous knowledge of Hebrew as well as basic Textual Criticism. As with many of the JSOT series this is the summary of Gorman's PhD dissertation.

I give it five stars for the good solid content and delivering of what it claimed. I do not believe in the JEDP break up of the Old Testament text, but I also knew that this book would focus on that when I got it, so I will not deduct a star.… (more)