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.
Sacrifice and Modern Thought
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Sacrifice and Modern Thought
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Bernhard Laum : origine della moneta e teoria del sacrificio : atti dell'incontro di studio : Roma 1995
Roma: Istituto italiano di numismatica, 1997.
The Florentine Codex: An Encyclopedia of the Nahua World in Sixteenth-Century Mexico
Austin : University of Texas Press, 2019.
Ritual and Sacrifice in the ancient Near East : proceedings of the international Conference organized by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven from the 17th to the 20th of April 1991
Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters en Departement Oriëntalistiek, 1993.
Kurban in the Balkans
Belgrade: Institute for Balkan Studies (SASA), 2007.
Sacrifice and Redemption : Durham Essays in Theology
Cambridge - New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Il sacrificio : evento e rito
Padova: Messaggero, 1998.
Sangue e antropologia: riti e culto : atti della 5. Settimana, Roma, 26 novembre-1 dicembre 1984
Roma: Pia unione Preziosissimo Sangue, 1987.
Sacrifice and its Sublimation through the Word
Delhi: Bharatiya Book corporation, 1991.
Early Religious Zionism and Erudition Concerning the Temple and Sacrifices
in: Religions, v. 13 (2022), issue 4: pp.https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13040310.
« Enlever le sacrifice ». Pratiques des marabouts africains de Paris
in: Sacrifices en Islam: Espaces et temps d'un rituel, pp. 307-327
Paris: CNRS, 1999.
The Nature and Elements of Sacrificial Ritual
in: Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, v. (2004), issue 16: pp.337-366.
On Eating Meat and Human Sacrifice. Greek Anthropology in Asclepiades of Cyprus and Theophrastus of Eresus
in: Faces of Hellenism. Studies in the History of the Eastern Mediterranean (4th Century B.C.-5th Century A.D.), pp. 11-47
Leuven: Peeters, 2009.