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circumcision
circumcision
circumcision The removal, by cutting, of the foreskin of the male penis. Though widely advocated in modern Western societies on the supposed ground of hygiene, circumcision is particularly associated with practising Jews by whom the rite is immensely valued as the occasion when a male child is initiated into the
covenant of
Abraham, eight days after birth (Lev. 12: 3).
However, as the OT itself (Jer. 9: 25–6) recognizes, circumcision was known amongst other peoples in the Near East, though not all required total amputation of the foreskin. The Hebrews had several versions of the origin of the rite—to
Abraham (Gen. 17: 9–27), or to Moses (Lev. 12: 3) or to
Joshua (Josh. 5: 2–7), and these served as useful justifications from Israel's traditions for the continuing insistence on the rite. In fact the origin may have been a kind of magic: a curious reference to this may survive in the story that Moses's wife saved his (Moses') life by circumcising their son (Exod. 4: 24–6).
At any rate circumcision was always a vital part of Jews's life—valued, exported (according to
Josephus), defended even by
martyrdom (1 Macc. 1: 48, 60) by the fervent, but detested by Jews who welcomed Hellenistic culture and desired assimilation to the Greeks. (Hellenized Jews took painful steps to cover up the embarrassment of circumcision by means of surgery.)
In the NT circumcision was an issue between Paul and the Jewish Christians who expected pagan converts first to become members of the covenant of Abraham by circumcision before being baptized as Christians. For Paul, this demand represented an attempt to add something to Christ, which was an absurdity: indeed it is virtually to reject Christ; it means that one has transferred one's allegiance to Christ alone on to an alternative system, namely the
Law, in which circumcision is basic. The issue was whether the Church had taken over the role of the New Israel, or was a reformed Jewish sect.
There is no mention in the OT of the barbaric surgery of female circumcision traditionally practised in some African countries today and clandestinely in the West by people from those regions.
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Circumcision Promotion Divides AIDS Activists
Magazine article from: In These Times; 5/1/2007; ; 700+ words
; THE LAST TIME circumcision made headlines in New York City...community and a media dust-up. Now circumcision is news again in New York, but...department has decided to encourage male circumcision as an HIV-prevention method among...
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Circumcision.(Health)
Newspaper article from: Manila Bulletin; 8/17/2003; 700+ words
; Please write about circumcision, its medical benefits and adverse...are actively campaigning against circumcision a form of mutilation. What is...prepuce to expose the glans is called circumcision. (By the way, there is also...
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Circumcision Opponents Energized by About-Face Of Academy of
Newspaper article from: Forward; 3/5/1999; 700+ words
; Forward 03-05-1999 Circumcision Opponents Energized by About...the Bible' NEW YORK -- Anti-circumcision activists are feeling energized...saying that the medical benefits of circumcision are not sufficient to recommend...
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Circumcision does not directly reduce the likelihood of male-to-female HIV transmission.(DIGESTS)(Report)
Magazine article from: International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health; 9/1/2009; ; 700+ words
; Circumcision is not associated with a reduced risk...partners of infected men who under went circumcision and those of infected men who did not...and were told that the effects of circumcision on HIV transmission were unknown and...
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Circumcision complications associated with the Plastibell device.(Scientific Letter)
Magazine article from: South African Medical Journal; 3/1/2007; ; 700+ words
; ...1999 and December 2005, 120 circumcision procedures were recorded in our...review. Seventy-nine hospital circumcisions were performed. Twenty complications...The indication for hospital circumcision was phimosis in 46 children...
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 "New Zealand Herald (Auckland, New Zealand)")
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The circumcision decision TAPU MISA.
Newspaper article from: New Zealand Herald (Auckland, New Zealand); 7/25/2007; 700+ words
; ...and according to at least one anti-circumcision site, the whole to-snip-or-not...who wonder whether the tide against circumcision had more to do with fashion and ideology...are from the Pacific Islands, where circumcision has never gone out of fashion, though...
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Neonatal circumcision does not reduce HIV/AIDS infection rates.(Opinion)(Report)
Magazine article from: South African Medical Journal; 10/1/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...Non-therapeutic, non-religious circumcision is the surgical procedure most commonly...UNAIDS/WHO) policy proposes male circumcision for the prevention of HIV/AIDS...It is, however, questionable how circumcision, and particularly neonatal circumcision...
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Circumcision debate gains interest in U.S. Pediatrics academy gives a boost to groups opposing routine procedure
Newspaper article from: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; 4/18/1999; ; 700+ words
; ...railing publicly against his circumcision. And last summer Men...this cover story: "Did circumcision ruin your sex life?" It...history, most opposing circumcision. Rabbi Gerald Chirnomas...brises," or Jewish ritual circumcisions, says he has been getting...
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Circumcision rates lower in states where Medicaid does not cover procedure.
Newspaper article from: NewsRx Health & Science; 2/15/2009; 700+ words
; ...revealed that male circumcision can reduce a man...the overall lower circumcision rates, the researchers...served, the fewer circumcisions the hospital performed...Hispanic parents, the circumcision decision was about...
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Circumcision Results in Sexual Losses, Says International Coalition for Genital Integrity
Newspaper article from: U.S. Newswire; 5/22/2002; 700+ words
; ...dissatisfaction prior to the circumcision, and all thought it would...circumcised and normal men. Circumcision removes approximately 80...that still performs infant circumcisions. Worldwide, 3 percent...are in the United States. Circumcision removes more than just a...
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Circumcision
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society
...Jewish mystical thought, circumcision was seen as having removed...argued that the sign of circumcision was so integral to Jewish...Coryate, witnessed Jewish circumcisions during their sojourns abroad...is Romeyn de Hooghe's Circumcision in a Sephardic Family...
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circumcision
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to the Body
circumcision or posthetomy , is the operative removal...clitoris and parts of the labia ). Male circumcision has been read in the West to be a sign...which continued to practise infant male circumcision in Western Europe after the advent...
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Circumcision, Feast of the
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
Circumcision, Feast of the. The feast traditionally kept on 1 Jan., the 8th day of Christmas , in commemoration of Christ's circumcision. The observance dates from the mid-6th cent. Since it is recorded that when He was circumcised, the...
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Female Genital Mutilation
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa
...Africa, and parts of West Africa Female circumcision has been the subject of fascination...FGM) has tended to replace female circumcision as a more accurate description of the...Africa. There is no reference to female circumcision in the Qur ʾ an, and it is...
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Phimosis
Encyclopedia entry from: Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3rd ed.
...voluntary decision whether to have a circumcision operation or not. If any problems...time as an adult and usually requires circumcision, the surgical removal of the foreskin...surgical repair or plastic surgery, and circumcision. Conservative treatments should be...
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