The impact of Mary Douglas's anthropological work on biblical studies has nowhere been more strongly felt than in the area of biblical legal systems. A group of experts in bible, Jewish law, comparative law, classical literature and social anthropology met in 1995 in the company of Mary Douglas to explore the book of Leviticus.

Among the topics reviewed and published in this volume, are: the unity of Leviticus, its ethical principles, its genre, its relation to social reality, its date, and its place in the development of Jewish law.