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.
Naukeurige beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche gewesten
Amsterdam: van Meurs, 1676.
Tractatus de iudaeis et aliis infidelibus: circa concernentia
Venice: Cominum de Tridino Montisferrati, 1558.
Ifigenia. Tragedia di M. Lodovico Dolce
Venice: Giolito de Ferrari, 1501.
Patimenti e morte di Simone Abeles, fanciullo ebreo di dodici anni tormentato, ed ucciso crudelmente da Lazzero Abeles suo padre in Praga il dì 21. di febbraio dell'anno 1694 perchè era costante nell'abbracciare la S. Fed
Firenze: Piero Martini, 1705.
Polpoikilos sophia, a compleat history or survey of all the dispensations and methods of religion, from the beginning of the world to the consummation of all things, as represented in the Old and New Testament shewing the several reasons and designs of those different administrations, and the wisdom and goodness of God in the government of His church, through all the ages of it: in which also, the opinion of Dr. Spencer concerning the Jewish rites and sacrifices is examin'd, and the certainty of the Christian religion demonstrated against the cavils of the Deists, &c.
London: Daniel Brown; Ionath[an] Robinson; Andrew Bell; Iohn Wyat; E. Harris, 1699.
Ad tit. cod. Theodosiani de paganis, sacrificiis, & templis, notae
Lutetia: Sebastianus Cramoisiy, 1618.
Disputationum Theologicarum De Sacrificiis Satisfactionis Pro Peccatis Totius Mundi Praestitae, Typis Certissimis, Et Firmissimis, Adversus recentiores Arianos seu Photinianos Satisfactionem Christi omnem pernegantes Tertia : Quod in actibus sacrificiorum preces ardentissimas & Cantica sacra adhibuerint / Quae In Collegio Disputationum Theologicarum [...]
Wittenber: Gormannus, 1615.
Schola Sacrificiorum Patriarchalium Sacra, Hoc Est, Assertio solidissima, Satisfactionis Á Domino nostro Iesv Christo [...] praestitae: in Sacrificiorum veterum typis fundata, & recentibus Arrianis seu Photinianis eandem negantibus, per Disputationes XXII
Wittenber: Balthasar Mevius, 1654.
The court of the gentiles, or, A discourse touching the original of human literature, both philologie and philosophie, from the Scriptures and Jewish church. Part 2, Of philosophie in order to a demonstration of 1. The perfection of Gods word and church light, 2. The imperfection of natures light and mischief of vain philosophie, 3. The right use of human learning and especially sound philosophie
Oxford: William Hall for Thomas Gilbert, 1660.