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.
Surā, the liquor and the Vedic sacrifice
New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 1999.
Crossing the Pomerium : the Boundaries of political, religious, and military Institutions from Caesar to Constantine
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020.
Latin Poetry about Simon of Trento
in: Acta Conventus Neo- Latini Budapestensis, pp. 397–406
Tempe, AZ: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 2010.
Finding the Eucharist in Central Australia: Intichiuma Ceremonies and the Study of Ritual Sacrifice as a Sacrament of Communion
in: History of Religions, v. 58 (2019), issue 3: pp.277-318.
Das Ritual der Feuergründung (Agnyādheya)
Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1982.
The Alleged Ritual Murder of Simon of Trent (1475) and its Literary Repercussions: A Bibliographical Study
in: Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, v. 59 (1993), issue : pp.103-135.
Missionaries, Monsters and the Demon Show. Diabolized Representations of American Indians. in Jesuit Libraries of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Upper Hungary
in: Exploring the Cultural History of Continental European Freak Shows and 'Enfreakment', pp. 38-73
Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
The Renaissance Bible: Scholarship, Sacrifice, and Subjectivity
Berkeley: University of California Press, .
Sacrificio e rito : background antropologico e teologico di una rimozione
in: Il sacrificio : evento e rito, pp. 53-67
Padova: Messaggero, 1998.
Perceptions of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of Isaac in the Latin philosophical tradition, the Sunnī exegetical tradition, and by Ibn ʿArabī”
in: Journal of Islamic Philosophy, pp. 5-44
: , 2021.
The Last Controversy over Ritual Murder? The Debate over the Paintings in Sandomierz Cathedral
in: Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 16: Focusing on Jewish Popular Culture and Its Afterlife, pp. 483-490
Liverpool: Liverpool University Press., 2003.
Anatomy and Blood Sacrifices in the Renaissance Period. The Frontispiece of De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Andreas Vesalius and the Sacrificial Scene
in: Blood-lyquid-symbol, pp. 83-102
Peeters: Leuven-Paris-Walpole Ma, 2012.
Le sacrifice juif dans le système sacrificiel antique : recherches historiques et anthropologiques
in: Annuaire de l'École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Section des sciences religieuses, v. (2014 [open access: http://journals.openedition.org/asr/1216 ]), issue 121: pp.33-38.