Understanding Religious Sacrifice A Reader

by Carter, Jeffrey

• ISBN13: 9780826448798
• ISBN10: 0826448798
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-31
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

This volume provides a thorough introduction to the major classic and modern writings dealing with religious sacrifice. Collected here are twenty five influential selections, each with a brief introduction addressing the overall framework and assumptions of its author. As they present different theories and examples of sacrifice, these selections also discuss important concepts in religious studies such as the origin of religion, totemism, magic, symbolism, violence, structuralism and ritual performance. Students of comparative religion, ritual studies, the history of religions, the anthropology of religion and theories of religion will particularly value the historical organization and thematic analyses presented in this collection.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
General Introduction	1	(448)
1 EDWARD BURNETT TYLOR	12	(27)
From Primitive Culture: Researches in the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Arts, and Custom
2 HERBERT SPENCER	39	(14)
From The Principles of Sociology
3 WILLIAM ROBERTSON SMITH	53	(23)
From The Religion of the Semites: The Fundamental Institutions
4 JAMES G. FRAZER	76	(12)
From The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion
5 HENRI HUBERT and MARCEL MAUSS	88	(12)
From Sacrifice: Its Nature and Function
6 EDWARD A. WESTERMARCK	100	(26)
From The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas
7 EMILE DURKHEIM	126	(13)
From The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
8 SIGMUND FREUD	139	(11)
From Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics
9 GERARDUS VAN DER LEEUW	150	(12)
From Religion in Essence and Manifestation: A Study in Phenomenology
10 GEORGES BATAILLE	162	(13)
From The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Economy
11 ADOLF E. JENSEN	175	(14)
From Myth and Cult among Primitive Peoples
12 EDWARD E. EVANS-PRITCHARD	189	(21)
"The Meaning of Sacrifice among the Nuer"
13 WALTER BURKERT	210	(29)
From Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth
14 RENE GIRARD	239	(37)
From Violence and the Sacred
15 JAN VAN BAAL	276	(16)
"Offering, Sacrifice and Gift"
16 VICTOR TURNER	292	(9)
From "Sacrifice as Quintessential Process: Prophylaxis or Abandonment?"
17 LUC DE HEUSCH	301	(14)
From Sacrifice in Africa: A Structuralist Approach
18 VALERIO VALERI	315	(10)
From Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and Society in Ancient Hawaii
19 JONATHAN Z. SMITH	325	(17)
"The Domestication of Sacrifice"
20 ROBERT J. DALY	342	(15)
"The Power of Sacrifice in Ancient Judaism and Christianity"
21 BRUCE LINCOLN	357	(13)
"Debreasting, Disarming, Beheading: Some Sacrificial Practices of the Scyths and Amazons"
22 NANCY JAY	370	(14)
From Throughout Your Generations Forever: Sacrifice, Religion, and Paternity
23 WILLIAM BEERS	384	(11)
From Women and Sacrifice: Male Narcissism and the Psychology of Religion
24 MAURICE BLOCH	395	(26)
From Prey into Hunter: The Politics of Religious Experience
25 JON D. LEVENSON	421	(28)
From The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity
Postscript	449	(5)
Selected Bibliography on Sacrifice	454	(7)
Index	461