> >Q1. What is the 'red Cowe' that is lost?]
> >
The only "red Cowe" that comes to mind offhand is the unblemished red
heifer of Numbers 19-22, which is sacrificed and used to remove impurity as
a result of contact with dead bodies. That passage certainly includes
priests (but no mention of copes, chanting, or bells) and involves
sprinkling blood and ashes -- not water.
I seem to remember that the heifer (a rare *female* animal specified for
sacrifice) is sometimes interpreted by Christian exegetes as the Church
(also unblemished, according to Ephesians 5). Of course, the whole
sacrifice symbolism (removal of impurity and so on) is also used to read
the heifer as a prefiguration of Christ's sacrifice. I'm sorry I can't be
more specific -- most of my books are in another state at the moment -- but
might it be useful to pursue
the red heifer motif in exegetical works and sermons of the period?
Wendy Love Anderson home phone: (773)924-0553
The Divinity School e-mail: [log in to unmask]
The University of Chicago URL: http://home.uchicago.edu/~wlanders/
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