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Sacrifice in Religious Experience
This book presents revised papers delivered at the 1998 and 1999 Taubes Minerva Center for Religious Anthropology conferences. The papers from the 1998 conference discuss the role of sacrifice in religious experience from a comparative perspective. Those from the second conference examine alternatives to sacrifice.
The first theme has been much elaborated in recent scholarship, and the essays here participate in that on-going inquiry. The second theme has been less explored, and the goal of this volume is to stimulate examination of the topic by offering a set of test cases. In both sections of the volume a wide variety of religious traditions are considered.
The essays show that in spite of the inclination we may sometimes have to consider sacrifice part of the idolatrous past, long overcome, it remains a persistent and meaningful part of religious experience.
The first theme has been much elaborated in recent scholarship, and the essays here participate in that on-going inquiry. The second theme has been less explored, and the goal of this volume is to stimulate examination of the topic by offering a set of test cases. In both sections of the volume a wide variety of religious traditions are considered.
The essays show that in spite of the inclination we may sometimes have to consider sacrifice part of the idolatrous past, long overcome, it remains a persistent and meaningful part of religious experience.
340 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2002
6 people want to read
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July 14, 2022
This is an interesting collection of studies on the themes of "sacrifice" that appear in world history, as various forms of gifts, offerings, appeasements, petitions, donations, etc. that people do in hope of gaining or bestowing favor. The authors examine such traditions as they've appeared in Namibia, Okinawa, Mesopotamia, Israel, Rome, Persia, in Christianity, Islam, and in modern cultures generally. Some of the articles are for very specialized audiences, but I felt that much of it was relevant to popular culture as I happen to know it. Maybe I'll just highlight one thought-provoking point about sacrifice as understood in Christian tradition.
In the article “Forgiveness of Sins Without a Victim: Jesus and the Levitical Jubilee,” Adriana Destro and Mauro Pesce give a series of quotes from the Gospels where Jesus forgives people, urges them to do likewise, and claims that God forgives people if they forgive others. They then point out the following:
"... the conception of forgiveness by God does not seem to require an expiation either on the part of the sinner or on the part of a savior who substitutes himself for him/her. The death of Jesus has no function in the forgiveness of sins. The person of Jesus has no mediatory function at all. Forgiveness depends exclusively on the direct relationship between God, the individual, and other people."
In the article “Forgiveness of Sins Without a Victim: Jesus and the Levitical Jubilee,” Adriana Destro and Mauro Pesce give a series of quotes from the Gospels where Jesus forgives people, urges them to do likewise, and claims that God forgives people if they forgive others. They then point out the following:
"... the conception of forgiveness by God does not seem to require an expiation either on the part of the sinner or on the part of a savior who substitutes himself for him/her. The death of Jesus has no function in the forgiveness of sins. The person of Jesus has no mediatory function at all. Forgiveness depends exclusively on the direct relationship between God, the individual, and other people."
Displaying 1 of 1 review