Description
Book SynopsisSacrifice dominated the religious landscape of the ancient Mediterranean world for millennia, but its role and meaning changed dramatically in the fourth and fifth centuries with the rise of Christianity. Daniel Ullucci offers a new explanation of this remarkable transformation, in the process demonstrating the complexity of the concept of sacrifice in Roman, Greek, and Jewish religion. The Christian Rejection of Animal Sacrifice challenges the predominant scholarly model, which posits a connection between so-called critiques of sacrifice in non-Christian Greek, Latin, and Hebrew texts and the Christian rejection of animal sacrifice. According to this model, pre-Christian authors attacked the propriety of animal sacrifice as a religious practice, and Christians responded by replacing animal sacrifice with a pure, ''''spiritual'''' ''worship. This historical construction influences prevailing views of animal sacrifice even today, casting it as barbaric, backward, and primitive despite t
Trade ReviewMuch in this book is to be applauded. * Frances Young, Theology Vol. 116 *
it must be concluded that Ullucciâs work is a valuable contribution, not only to the study of early Christianity, but also for historians and religious studies scholars more generally. His critique of a giant narrative and his careful approach to the evidence have created a nuanced and diverse picture, and he has met the problems and challenges of teleological reasoning, historicizing evidence, and identifying critical nuances in argumentation in ways that may be inspiring to scholars of various disciplines[...]Ullucciâs study is built around a convincing argument which is lucidly argued and contextualized within a long historiographical tradition, and contributes much to the study of early Christianity. * Martin Pjecha, International Political Anthtropology2014 *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ; 1 The Problem of Animal Sacrifice ; 2 Animal Sacrifice: Theory and Practice ; 3 Ideal Sacrifice vs. the Ideal of No Sacrifice ; 4 Christian Positions on Animal Sacrifice ; 5 A Redescription of Early Christian Positions on Animal Sacrifice ; 6 Epilogue: Julian and the Rejection of Sacrifice ; Appendix: Summary of Early Christian Positions on Sacrifice not Covered in Chapter 4 ; Bibliography
