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.
Travels in Eucharistia: Formosa and Ireland From George Psalmanaazaar to Jonathan Swift
in: Yale French Studies, v. 86 (1994), issue : pp..
The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.
La calunnia del sangue in Derekh Emunà (Via della Fede - 1683) di Giulio Morosini alias Samuel Nachmias
in: La Rassegna Mensile Di Israel, v. 82 (2016), issue 1: pp.25-48.
La doctrine du sacrifice dans les Brâhmanas
Paris: Presses universitaires de France [Leroux], 1966 [1898].
A Spanish Source on Mid-ninth-century Mar Saba and a neglected Sabaite Martyr.
in: The Sabaite Heritage in the Orthodox Church from the Fifth Century to the Present, pp. 63 - 72
Leuven (Belgium): Peeters, 2001.
Debreasting, Disarming, Beheading: Some Sacrificial Practices of the Scyths and Amazons
in: Death, War, and Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology and Practice, pp. 198-208
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
The Druids and Human Sacrifice
in: Death, War, and Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology and Practice, pp. 176-187
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Sanctuary, Sovereignty, Sacrifice : Canadian Sanctuary Incidents, Power, and Law
Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005.
Spartizione e comunità nei banchetti greci
in: Sacrificio e società nel mondo antico, pp. 211-229
Roma - Bari: Laterza , 1988.
Sacrifice and Islamic Identity
in: Sacrifice in Modernity: Community, Ritual, Identity, pp. 221-229
Leiden: Brill, 2017.
Sacrifice and Islamic Identity
in: Sacrifice in Modernity : Community, Ritual, Identity : from Nationalism and Nonviolence to Health Care and Harry Potter, pp. 221-229
Leiden: Brill, 2017.
The Highest Altar : unveiling the Mystery of Human Sacrifice
New York: Penguin Books, 1990.
‘Dead Women Tell No Tales:’ Issues of Female Subjectivity, Subaltern Agency and Tradition in Colonial and Post-colonial Writings on Widow Immolation in India
in: History Workshop Journal, v. (1993), issue : pp.208-227.
Les rites de chasse chez les peuples sibériens
Paris: Gallimard, 1953.