Destructive rituals and the creative process: the dynamics of defilement in 2 kings 23 -- Priestly rites of elimination and the holiness : core of 2 Kings 23:4-20 -- Herem ideology and the politics of destruction: Josiah's reform in Deuteronomistic perspective -- The mechanics of transformation: the holiness substratum and Deuteronomistic revision of 2 Kings 23:4-20 -- Literary, historiographic, and historical implications.