Topic: 2. Sacrifice and religion: Comparisons, Antiquarians, Anthropology (16th-18th Century)
Religious sacrifices across various cultures and contexts sparked widespread interest in Early Modern Europe. As Christianity expanded into regions inhabited by "infidels" and "pagans", Europeans encountered a diverse array of sacrificial customs, ranging from the Sati rituals in India to the Aztec sacrifices in the Americas. This cross-cultural exposure captivated a wide audience, including theologians, philosophers, political thinkers, antiquarians, orientalists, missionaries, poets, artists, and even the general public. These encounters broadened the European understanding of sacrifice and led to a critical reassessment of classical and biblical sacrificial rites. This section includes:
- Sources: A selection of early modern printed materials, which include descriptions of the Americas, Asia, and Africa, alongside antiquarian and philological studies on religious sacrifice in classical antiquity and beyond. It also presents early modern works of ethnological observations and the first attempts to compare different sacrificial practices in various traditions and contexts, laying the groundwork for disciplines like the history of religions and anthropology.
- Iconographic Representations: A rich collection of images from the 16th to 18th centuries, illustrating a range of sacrificial rituals and practices as seen in different cultural and geographical contexts.
- Related Bibliography: An extensive bibliography spanning scholarly works from the 19th to 21st centuries, providing contemporary analyses and interpretations of these early studies and observations.
Sous le masque de l'animal : essay sur le sacrifice en Afrique noire
Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1987.
Sacrifices humains: dossiers, discours, comparaisons. Actes du colloque tenu à l'université de Genève, 19-20 mai 2011
Turnhout: Brepols, 2013.
0. General bibliography (19th-21th Century) 2. Sacrifice and religion: Comparisons, Antiquarians, Anthropology (16th-18th Century) 3. Sacrifice and politics (16th-18th Century)
Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar
Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1983.
Sacrifice, Cult, and Atonement in Early Judaism and Christianity: Constituents and Critique
Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2017.
Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Cathay and the way thither, being a collection of medieval notices of China
London: Hakluyt society, 1913-1916.
Le sacrifice 5
in: Systèmes de pensée en Afrique noire
Paris: École Pratique des Hautes Études. Section des sciences religieuses, 1983.