Not Sparing the Child: Human Sacrifice in the Ancient World and Beyond

by Arbel, Daphna; Burns, Paul C.; Cousland, J.R.C.; Menkis, Richard; Neufeld, Dietmar

• ISBN13: 9780567669582
• ISBN10: 0567669580
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2016-06-30
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark

Summary

The role of human sacrifice in the ancient Mediterranean world and its implications continue to be topics that fire the popular imagination and engender scholarly discussion and controversy. This volume provides balanced and judicious treatments of the various facets of these topics from a cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural perspective. It provides nuanced examinations of ancient ritual, exploring the various meanings that human sacrifice held for antiquity, and examines its varied repercussions up into the modern world.

The book explores evidence to shed new light on the origins of the rite, to whom these sacrifices were offered, and by whom they were performed. It presents fresh insights into the social and religious meanings of this practice in its varied biblical landscape and ancient contexts, and demonstrates how human sacrifice has captured the imagination of later writers who have employed it in diverse cultural and theological discourses to convey their own views and ideologies. It provides valuable perspectives for understanding key cultural, theological and ideological dimensions, such as the sacrifice of Christ, scapegoating,self-sacrifice and martyrdom in post-biblical and modern times.

Author Biography

V. Daphna Arbel is a Professor in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Paul C. Burns is Associate Professor Emeritus of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

J.R.C. Cousland is Associate Professor in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Richard Menkis is Associate Professor of Medieval and Modern Jewish History at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Dietmar Neufeld is Associate Professor in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Introduction
V. Daphna Arbel, University of British Columbia, Canada
Paul C. Burns, University of British Columbia, Canada
J.R.C. Cousland, University of British Columbia, Canada
Richard Menkis, University of British Columbia, Canada
Dietmar Neufeld, University of British Columbia, Canada

Part I. History, Ritual, Archeology

01. Child Sacrifice as the Extreme Case and Calculation
Mark Smith, New York University, USA

02. Human Sacrifice in Pre-and Early Dynastic Egypt – What Do You Want to Find?
Thomas Hikade, Hikade previously at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and Jane Roy, previously at the University of British Columbia, Canada

03. God's Infanticide in the Night of Passover: Exodus 12 in the Light of Ancient Egyptian Rituals
Thomas Schneider, University of British Columbia, Canada

04. A Late Punic Narrative About Disrupted Sacrifice? Hr. Medeine N 2
Philip C. Schmitz, Eastern Michigan University, USA

Part II. Textual, Cultural & Social Aspects

05. Is the Language of Child Sacrifice Used Figuratively in Ezekiel 16?
Peggy Day, University of Winnipeg, Canada

06. Mocking Boys, Baldness, and Bears: Elisha's Deadly Honor (2 Kings 2:23-24)
Dietmar Neufeld, University of British Columbia, Canada

07. Death and the Maiden: human sacrifice in Euripides' Andromeda
C.W. Marshall, University of British Columbia, Canada

Part III. Theology & Reception

08. Child Sacrifice: A Polyvalent Story in Early Eucharistic Piety
Paul C. Burns, University of British Columbia, Canada

09. Deus Necans: Jesus in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas
J.R.C. Cousland, University of British Columbia, Canada

10. Living Sacrifice: Rethinking Abrahamic Religious Sacrifice using Field Narratives of Eid ul-Adha
Michel Desjardins, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada, and Aldea Mulhern, University of Toronto, Canada

11. John Milton's Poetics for Christ Versus Moloch
Lee Johnson, University of British Columbia, Canada

Index