Origins of Sacrifice

Origins of Sacrifice PDF Author: E. O. James
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781494086473
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
This is a new release of the original 1933 edition.

Origins of Sacrifice

Origins of Sacrifice PDF Author: E. O. James
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781494086473
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is a new release of the original 1933 edition.

Sacrifice

Sacrifice PDF Author: Henri Hubert
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226356795
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Marcel Mauss was the nephew and most distinguished pupil of mile Durkheim, whose review L'Ann e sociologique he helped to found and edit. Henri Hubert was another member of the group of sociologists who developed under the influence of Durkheim. The present book is one of the best-known essays pulbished in L'Ann e sociologique and has been regarded as a model for method and mode of interpretation. Its subject is at the very center of the comparative study of religion. The authors describe a basic sacrifice drawn from Indian sources and show what is fundamental and constant, comparing Indian and Hebrew practices in particular, then Greek and Roman, then additional practices from many eras and cultures.

On Sacrifice

On Sacrifice PDF Author: Moshe Halbertal
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400842352
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
The idea and practice of sacrifice play a profound role in religion, ethics, and politics. In this brief book, philosopher Moshe Halbertal explores the meaning and implications of sacrifice, developing a theory of sacrifice as an offering and examining the relationship between sacrifice, ritual, violence, and love. On Sacrifice also looks at the place of self-sacrifice within ethical life and at the complex role of sacrifice as both a noble and destructive political ideal. In the religious domain, Halbertal argues, sacrifice is an offering, a gift given in the context of a hierarchical relationship. As such it is vulnerable to rejection, a trauma at the root of both ritual and violence. An offering is also an ambiguous gesture torn between a genuine expression of gratitude and love and an instrument of exchange, a tension that haunts the practice of sacrifice. In the moral and political domains, sacrifice is tied to the idea of self-transcendence, in which an individual sacrifices his or her self-interest for the sake of higher values and commitments. While self-sacrifice has great potential moral value, it can also be used to justify the most brutal acts. Halbertal attempts to unravel the relationship between self-sacrifice and violence, arguing that misguided self-sacrifice is far more problematic than exaggerated self-love. In his exploration of the positive and negative dimensions of self-sacrifice, Halbertal also addresses the role of past sacrifice in obligating future generations and in creating a bond for political associations, and considers the function of the modern state as a sacrificial community.

Sacrifice and Moral Philosophy

Sacrifice and Moral Philosophy PDF Author: Marcel van Ackeren
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000080498
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
The aim of this book is to foster a more explicit and direct discussion of the concept of sacrifice and its importance in moral philosophy. Acts of self-sacrifice have a special place in our moral lives. We admire and celebrate those who give up their lives so that others may live. Despite this important role that sacrifice plays in our moral thinking, moral philosophers have had surprisingly little to say about the nature of sacrifice. This lack of attention to the nature of sacrifice is particularly important given that sacrifice also has an important role to play in several key debates in moral philosophy. The chapters in this volume make an important contribution to our understanding of sacrifice in three areas. The first part of the book investigates the nature of sacrifice. The next group of chapters investigates the role of sacrifice in moral philosophy. Three of these pieces investigate the role of sacrifice in our moral lives generally, while two investigate the role of sacrifice in relation to particular moral theories. The final two chapters investigate the value of sacrifice in relation to political and theological issues. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Philosophical Studies.

Radical Sacrifice

Radical Sacrifice PDF Author: Terry Eagleton
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300233353
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
A trenchant analysis of sacrifice as the foundation of the modern, as well as the ancient, social order The modern conception of sacrifice is at once cast as a victory of self-discipline over desire and condescended to as destructive and archaic abnegation. But even in the Old Testament, the dual natures of sacrifice, embodying both ritual slaughter and moral rectitude, were at odds. In this analysis, Terry Eagleton makes a compelling argument that the idea of sacrifice has long been misunderstood. Pursuing the complex lineage of sacrifice in a lyrical discourse, Eagleton focuses on the Old and New Testaments, offering a virtuosic analysis of the crucifixion, while drawing together a host of philosophers, theologians, and texts--from Hegel, Nietzsche, and Derrida to the Aeneid and The Wings of the Dove. Brilliant meditations on death and eros, Shakespeare and St. Paul, irony and hybridity explore the meaning of sacrifice in modernity, casting off misperceptions of barbarity to reconnect the radical idea to politics and revolution.

The Broken World of Sacrifice

The Broken World of Sacrifice PDF Author: J. C. Heesterman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226323015
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
In this book, J. C. Heesterman attempts to understand the origins and nature of Vedic sacrifice—the complex compound of ritual practices that stood at the center of ancient Indian religion. Paying close attention to anomalous elements within both the Vedic ritual texts, the brahmanas, and the ritual manuals, the srautasutras, Heesterman reconstructs the ideal sacrifice as consisting of four moments: killing, destruction, feasting, and contest. He shows that Vedic sacrifice all but exclusively stressed the offering in the fire—the element of destruction—at the expense of the other elements. Notably, the contest was radically eliminated. At the same time sacrifice was withdrawn from society to become the sole concern of the individual sacrificer. The ritual turns in on the individual as "self-sacrificer" who realizes through the internalized knowledge of the ritual the immortal Self. At this point the sacrificial cult of the fire recedes behind doctrine of the atman's transcendence and unity with the cosmic principle, the brahman. Based on his intensive analysis Heesterman argues that Vedic sacrifice was primarily concerned with the broken world of the warrior and sacrificer. This world, already broken in itself by the violence of the sacrificial contest, was definitively broken up and replaced with the ritrualism of the single, unopposed sacrificer. However, the basic problem of sacrifice—the riddle of life and death—keeps breaking too surface in the form of incongruities, contradictions, tensions, and oppositions that have perplexed both the ancient ritual theorists and the modern scholar.

Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru

Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru PDF Author: Elizabeth P. Benson
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292757956
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Propitiating the supernatural forces that could grant bountiful crops or wipe out whole villages through natural disasters was a sacred duty in ancient Peruvian societies, as in many premodern cultures. Ritual sacrifices were considered necessary for this propitiation and for maintaining a proper reciprocal relationship between humans and the supernatural world. The essays in this book examine the archaeological evidence for ancient Peruvian sacrificial offerings of human beings, animals, and objects, as well as the cultural contexts in which the offerings occurred, from around 2500 B.C. until Inca times just before the Spanish Conquest. Major contributions come from the recent archaeological fieldwork of Steve Bourget, Anita Cook, and Alana Cordy-Collins, as well as from John Verano's laboratory work on skeletal material from recent excavations. Mary Frame, who is a weaver as well as a scholar, offers rich new interpretations of Paracas burial garments, and Donald Proulx presents a fresh view of the nature of Nasca warfare. Elizabeth Benson's essay provides a summary of sacrificial practices.

Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel

Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel PDF Author: Heath D. Dewrell
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 1646022017
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Among the many religious acts condemned in the Hebrew Bible, child sacrifice stands out as particularly horrifying. The idea that any group of people would willingly sacrifice their own children to their god(s) is so contrary to modern moral sensibilities that it is difficult to imagine that such a practice could have ever existed. Nonetheless, the existence of biblical condemnation of these rites attests to the fact that some ancient Israelites in fact did sacrifice their children. Indeed, a close reading of the evidence—biblical, archaeological, epigraphic, etc.—indicates that there are at least three different types of Israelite child sacrifice, each with its own history, purpose, and function. In addition to examining the historical reality of Israelite child sacrifice, Dewrell’s study also explores the biblical rhetoric condemning the practice. While nearly every tradition preserved in the Hebrew Bible rejects child sacrifice as abominable to Yahweh, the rhetorical strategies employed by the biblical writers vary to a surprising degree. Thus, even in arguing against the practice of child sacrifice, the biblical writers themselves often disagreed concerning why Yahweh condemned the rites and why they came to exist in the first place.

The Insanity of Sacrifice

The Insanity of Sacrifice PDF Author: Nik Ripken
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
ISBN: 1535951192
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Bestselling author Nik Ripken, mentored by believers in persecution, offers a 90-day devotional to help you align your heart with God's, seeing the role sacrifice plays in the life of every follower of Jesus Christ. Individuals and families will be challenged to embrace sacrifice as their daily offering to God. It is through offering ourselves that we mirror the nature of the Father who gave His only Son to be crucified, and the nature of the Son who gave His very life to save sinners. Through this book readers will discover that their sacrifice can lead others, across the street and across the oceans, to discover new resurrection life in Christ.

King of Sacrifice

King of Sacrifice PDF Author: Sarah Hitch
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Descriptions of animal sacrifice in Homer offer detailed accounts of this attempt at communication between man and gods. Hitch explores the structural and thematic importance of animal sacrifice as an expression of the quarrel between Akhilleus and Agamemnon through the differing perspectives of the primary narrative and character speech.