ABSTRACT
What did it mean to be holy in the first Christian centuries? Many people have mixed views on the concept of holiness. Some see it as a Judeo-Christian phenomenon. Others regard the sacred realm as a universal construct. The definition of holiness too is variously understood. Some see it as a moral category, others as a social classification. Some regard it equivalent to religious experience, while others regard it as simply a state of being outside of the norm. What is needed is a systematic presentation of the matter, and nowhere is the topic so integral to religion as in the rabbinic Judaism of the early centuries of the common era. This period provides rich soil for explaining the concept both in the broad, pagan domain of Graeco-Roman culture as well as in the more narrow but extremely fertile valley of rabbinic Judaism. In the latter we find the components of a complete system of holiness compiled from the prolific teachings of the rabbinic sages. It is this material upon which the following study is based. The rabbinic concept of holiness provides a detailed model for comparison and contrast with the notion of the sacred in both paganism and Christianity.
