%0 Journal Article
%T The ambivalence of purification and the challenge of transformation in The Rites of Passage and in early Christian texts
%A Moshe Blidstein
%J Journal of Classical Sociology
%@ 1741-2897
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1468795X18789015
%X In this article I analyze Van Gennep¡¯s understanding of purity, impurity, and purification and its relationship with ancient Christian texts discussing these subjects. Through this comparison, I show how modern and ancient theories of ritual can illuminate each other, and more specifically, how purification was a problematic and ambivalent concept for both ancient Christian writers and for Van Gennep, making it a fruitful one for investigating the thought of both
%K Arthur Van Gennep
%K defilement
%K process
%K purity
%K ritual
%K transformation
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1468795X18789015