Understanding Religious Sacrifice

Jeffrey Carter is Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina.

"Understanding Sacrifice is a revelatory read! Scholars and students alike will be treated to a telling history of continuous Western speculation on the meaning of sacrifice for over a century. At the same time, these judicious selections reveal the extent to which sacrifice, constituted as a problem, has informed the shape of the academic study of religion. Teachers will find Understanding Sacrifice to be a useful tool to introduce students to the diverse theories generated to explain the nature of religion and to the methodological approaches (psychological, sociological, anthropological, phenomenological, functionalist, structuralist, etc.) that have been applied to the study of religion. This reader is a most welcome volume." --Gary L. Ebersole, Professor of History & Religious Studies and Director, UMKC Center for Religious Studies

• 1. General Introduction Jeffrey Carter2. Primitive Culture: researches in the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Arts and Custom Sir Edward B. Tylor3. the Principles of Sociology, Vol 1 Herbert Spencer4. The Religion of the Semites: The Fundamental Institutions W. Robertson Smith5. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion James G. Frazer6. Sacrifice: Its Nature and Function Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss 7. The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, Vol 1 Edward A. Westermarck8. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life Emile Durkheim9. Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics Sigmund Freud10. Religion in Essence and Manifestation Gerardus van der Leeuw11. Myth and Cult Among Primitive Peoples Adolf Jensen12. Nuer Religion E.E. Evans-Prichard13. The Savage Mind Claude Levi-Strauss14. Violence and the Sacred Rene Girard15. Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth Walter Burkert16. Theory of Religion Georges Bataille17. Sacrifice as Quintessential Process: Prophylaxis or Abandonment? Victor Turner18. Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and Society in Ancient Hawaii Valerio Valeri19. Sacrifice in Africa: A Structuralist Approach Luc de Heusch20. the Domestication of Sacrifice Jonathan Z. Smith21. The Power of Sacrifice in Ancient Judaism and Christianity Robert J. Daly22. Debreasting, Disarming, Beheading: Some Sacrificial Practices of Scyths and Amazons Bruce Lincoln23. Women and Sacrifice: Male Narcissism and the Psychology of Religion William Beers24. Throughout Your Generations Forever: Sacrifice, Religion and Paternity Nancy Jay25. Prey Into Hunter: The Politics of Religious Experience Maurice Bloch26. The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity Jon D. Levenson 27. Conclusion: Theory Making and Sacrifice Jeffrey Carter