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.
The ambivalent legacy of violence and victimhood. Using early Christian martyrs to think with
in: Spiritus, v. 6 (2006), issue : pp.1 - 24.
El pasionario hispánico como fuente de los mártires hispanorromanos
in: Revista de Humanidades de la Universidad de Jaén, v. 4 - 5 (1995 - 1996), issue : pp.111 - 123.
The theory of sacrifice in Nietzsche and Joseph de Maistre
in: Philosophical Forum, v. 40 (2009), issue 2: pp.245-263.
Sacrificio e vittime sacrificali
in: Il sacrificio: evento e rito, pp. 245-260
Padova: Messaggero, 1998.
Chamanismo y Sacrificio. Perspectivas arqueológicas y etnológicas en sociedades indígenas en América del Sur
Bogotà: Institut français d’études andines, Fundación de investigaciones arqueológicas nacionales, Banco de la República, 2015.
Le sacrifice arabe nommé «dahiya»
in: Revue de l’Histoire des Religions, v. 142 (1952), issue : pp.206-215.
The Temple of Jesus : his sacrificial Program within a cultural History of Sacrifice
University Park, Pa. :: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992.
Saint-Germain-des-Près, St Vincent and the Martyrs of Córdoba.
in: Early Medieval Europe, v. 7 (1998), issue : pp.199 - 216.
Practicing Salvation: Meat-Eating, Martyrdom, and Sacrifice as Religious Ideals in the Zhenkongjiao
in: Journal of Chinese Religions, v. 50 (2022), issue 1: pp.77-114.
Menschenopfer
in: Images Re-vues [Online], v. (2023), issue 4: pp..
Sources for Ugaritic Ritual and Sacrifice
Münster: Ugarit-verlag, 2001.
Sacrifice and Its Spiritualization in the Christian and Hindu Traditions: A Study in Comparative Theology
in: The Harvard Theological Review, v. 78 (1985), issue 3-4: pp.361-380.
Animal Substitution as a Reversed Sacrifice : an Intertextual Reading of Genesis 22 and the Animal Stories of Shusaku Endo
in: Sacrifice in Modernity : Community, Ritual, Identity : from Nationalism and Nonviolence to Health Care and Harry Potter, pp. 288-307
Leiden: Brill, 2017.
Sanctifying the Name of God: Jewish Martyrs and Jewish Memories of the First Crusade
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
Sacred performances : Islam, sexuality, and sacrifice
New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.